Erodium is one of those genera that I
had vaguely heard of but didn't really know anything about before I
started working at Arrowhead. They're closely related to
Pelargoniums, and I'd always sort of assumed they wouldn't be very
winter hardy. But they're proved me wrong on the hardiness front, and
now, the more I see of them, the more I like them. The ones we grow
all bloom continuously starting now in late spring and continuing on
without a pause well into the fall. The flowering is never super
heavy – these aren't plants that smother themselves with flower –
but that is more than compensated for (at least in my mind) by the
intricate beauty of the flowers and the absolutely terrific ferny
foliage. Also a huge plus, so far the deer and rabbits haven't shown
any interest in them (though I'm making no guarantees... if your
critters are hungry enough they'll eat almost anything) and they
absolutely laugh at drought, heat AND our cold, cold winters.
 |
| Erodium chelianthifolium |
 |
| Erodium glandulosum |
Erodium glandulosum and E. chelianthifolium are
two of my favorites, and I'm totally geeked that they sailed through
our solidly zone 5 winter without missing a beat. Both form compact,
tidy mounds (at one year in, they're 3-4 inches tall, and maybe 6
inches wide) of beautiful silver, finely cute fern-like foliage and
have delicate round pale pink (in the case of ) or white (in the case
of ) flowers with a pansy-like eye of darker purple that dance above
the leaves on slender stems.
 |
| Erodium glandulosum |
 |
| Erodium chelianthifolium |
The two species are quite similar, with
E. glandulosum somewhat larger in all its parts and proving to be marginally more
vigorous and heavily blooming in the garden, though I think E chelianthifolium. has
somewhat prettier (though smaller) blooms, and a stronger silver to
the foliage.
 |
| Erodium chrysanthum |
E. chrysanthum has the best foliage
I've seen in this genus, a brilliant silver of the sort
people usually resort to annuals like dusty miller to get (though it doesn't show up well in this photo...), on a tidy
compact plant that stays under 6 inches tall and slowly spreads to a
foot or more in width.
 |
| Erodium chrysanthum |
The flowers look white in this photo, but are
actually a delicate shade of the palest possible yellow. They're
beautiful and produced continuously during the summer, but in all
honesty are best described as sparse. This plant is all about the
foliage, and the flowers are just a sprinkling of extra goodness.
 |
| Erodium carvifolium |
 |
| Erodium circutarium |
 |
| Erodium mannescovii |
E. carvifolium, E. cirvutarium, and E. mannescovii look so similar that at
first I wondered if they were different plants at all... but
comparing the three side-by-side, they are distinct, and in the
garden their growth habits are noticably different as well.
All have
large, dark green very ferny leaves that form an almost flat mat,
only a few inches tall, but one year in, are already over a foot
across, and all three are intense when it comes to flower production,
blooming heavily all summer long with big masses of brilliant
see-them-on-the-other-side-of-the-garden magenta flowers.
 |
| Erodium carvifolium |
I'm not
usually a magenta fan, but these I like. A lot. They are loud and
unabashed and cheerful. Comparing the three in the trial bed, my
clear favorite is E. carvifolium Bigger leaves and flowers than the other two, it
is also clearly the most vigorous and heathy of the three, and is
blooming the heaviest. I do however also like E. circutarium, which holds its
flowers more upright than the other two.
I did also put two other species of
Erodium in the trial beds, E. chamaedryoides and E. richardii, neither of
which made it through the winter... which came as no surprise. If you
live somewhere warmer (zone 7 maybe 6) they're well worth growing,
tiny, cute, adorable little things. But I think I'll stick with the
hardy ones.
