Table of Delights – April 2011

By Patientgardener @patientgardener

I introduced a new series of posts back in February entitled My Table of Delights.

The posts feature the table on my patio where I have a habit of placing smallish plants that are at their best, or sometimes new acquisitions, that I want to be able to admire from the living room.

Sometime there is a small collection of pots on the table but this month there is just one pot.  It contains an Erodium pelargoniiflorum which I bought earlier in the month from the nursery at Coton Manor in Northamptonshire.  To be honest I had never heard of Erodiums when I bought but I was drawn to the flowers which reminded me of species Pelargoniums which are  new fascination for me.

Therefore I was very interested to discover it mentioned in the President’s Letter in the latest Hardy Plant Society Journal.  Roy Lancaster, the President, says that he acquired a “true Erodium pelargoniiflorum (as against E. troflium) with its swollen base”.  I had looked the plant up in my Plant Encyclopedia but it wasn’t listed so I pleased to find this reference and the article seems to imply that it is easily confused with other Erodiums so I went and double checked mine and yes it has a swollen base.  Interestingly the label even says that it is a very popular plant when the nursery have it in stock although this could be a clever selling ploy!  I understand that it likes the sun, is fully hardy and can be treated as a rockery plant but for now mine is potted up and placed in pride of place on the Table of Delights where I can admire it until the flowers finish or something else grabs my attention!

Do you have somewhere special that you display your gems or new purchases?  If so why not write a post about it and leave a link here in the comment box it would be great to hear about.