{"id":5532,"date":"2013-06-18T04:45:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-18T08:45:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-08-13T18:00:41","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T22:00:41","slug":"pelargoniums-and-new-potting-bench","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardern.co.za\/2013\/06\/pelargoniums-and-new-potting-bench\/","title":{"rendered":"Pelargoniums, and a new potting bench"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nPelargonium oblongatum, another precious summer dormant species of pelargonium ( geranium), that blooms while dormant, and without any leaves. I am really starting to collect more of these amazing species from South Africa, my collection just can’t be large enough! It spends its life under glass, in a pot set on a bed of sand.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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An inexpensive Ikea purchase is transformed into a potting bench. It probably won’t last long outdoors, but as we have a new floor installed into the studio, this piece was destined for the dumpster, but now has a second life outdoors. <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
\nI’ve been wanting to place a simple potting bench outside of the greenhouse, not for potting plants, as I have a large proper potting bench inside the greenhouse, but just some shelves where I can store tools, and mostly to use for preparing watering cans with fertilizer. A task that always breaks my back, as I am often mixing solutions for bulbs or containers, and bending over with the hose. This little bench, a prop we bought a few years ago for a display I designed for the New England Spring Flower Show for only a couple of hundred of dollars, as it looked a bit like a Japanese-influenced potting-type bench, we’ve been keeping it in the studio where it just collected junk. Now, at least it has a purpose. Not designed for outdoor use, it will probably only last a few years with our weather, but it’s better than throwing it into the dumpster.<\/div>\n
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June in the formal garden. There is a gap in bloom this year, and few vegetables as the puppies are also kept on this side of the yard. Everything is looking a little shaggy, as the boxwoods and bay laurels still need to be trimmed, but that won’t happen until late June, when I return from my trip to San Francisco. For now, I am lucky that it looks half-way decent. It looks much better in this picture than it really does, believe me.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The bench gives me a place to store some plants away from the dogs such as this Deuterocohnia brevifolia, a bromeliad that looks more like a cacti than a pineapple relative – they form perfect mounds when grown in containers. Yes, those
\nare Devil’s Tongue Arum in the back. I am having a second childhood!<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Pelargonium dichonrifolium ( or P. exhibens). Help! One of my summer dormant species that spends its entire life under glass, in a sand bed.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Pelargonium sidoides,  a great container plant for decks and terraces ( I keep thinking of the specimens I saw in the South African garden at the Denver Botanic Garden’s last summer. This plant, I planted in a large urn.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Just to confuse you, this is a true Geranium, not a pelargoinium. The giant of all geraniums, G. maderense spp. alba is a common cottage garden plant in northern California, but most everywhere else, it is a rarely seen Mediterranean gem, making a magnificent potted plant, and if you are lucky to get a pot of this giant to bloom, even better. This one self seeded into a number of my container plants which spend the winter in the greenhouse.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
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Pelargonium oblongatum, another precious summer dormant species of pelargonium ( geranium), that blooms while dormant, and without any leaves. 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