Come along on a visit!
My interview guest for this episode is Matija Strlic, chairman of the International Geraniacea Group. Matija has collected Pelargoniums for more than 25 years and has travelled the world to observe them in their natural habitat. This is the first part (of two) of my interview with Matija.
In this interview you will discover
– What winter and summer growing Pelargoniums are and what you need to know to grow them at home
– That there are a few varieties of Pelargoniums native from Anatolia that can resist cold winters with frost and snow
– Into which sections the genus Pelargonium is divided and in which habitats we find species of these sections
– How Pelargonium species characteristics can change depending on their exact habitat
– Why long nectar-tubes of Pelargoniums make them interesting for studies of insects and co-evolution
Matija takes us on an exciting journey to different places, many but not all in South Africa, and shares how geology, surface topology and the oceans around the Cape of South Africa shape an enormous diversity of Pelargonium habitats.
In the second part of this episode (released on April 20th 2021) Matija will share more about how climate change and human activity affect these habitats and recommend places to go to get amazed by the diversity of Pelargoniums in South Africa.
The podcast cover features a portrait of Matija and Judith as well as the flower of one of Matija’s favourite Pelargoniums, P. saxatile. This is a tiny Pelargonium species in the Hoarea (stemless Pelargonium) section. Find pictures of its native habitat here.
The second part of the interview with Matija can be found here.
Learn more about the International Geraniaceae Group .
Visit Matija’s Pelargonium webpage to enjoy a digital visit of the many South African Pelargonium habitats and wonderful images of the diversity of Pelargonium species.
Want to learn more about Pelargoniums?
Have you listened to our other Pelargonium episodes yet? You can all find them here on our blog. Join the Flora-L community newsletter to receive updates when we release new episodes. You can also find and subscribe to the Flora and Friends podcast on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast and Deezer .
Look inside a Pelargonium flower stem
Together with the first Pelargonium episode we released a new microscopy pattern of pelargoniums that you can see below and find in our Society6 print on demand shop. The pattern features vascular cells in a pelargonium flower stem. These cells transport water and nutrients. We run our Society6 shop as a complement to our own linen textile webshop. The Pelargonium pattern is right now exclusively available only at Society6 on a wide range of products, from cups, to coasters, shower curtains, cushion covers, door mats, art prints, phone cases, paper note books, shirts… etc.
