Pelargonium quercifolium

The Pelargonium quercifolium is a very beautiful botanical species that is particularly aromatic. It forms a beautiful bush, with ramified vegetation and an erect habit, adorned with shiny evergreen leaves, roundly cut, dark green with a black centre. The entire plant is sticky, filled with a precious essential oil with a resinous and balsamic fragrance, quite similar to that of maritime pine. It offers very pretty pinkish-purple flowers veined with garnet red throughout the summer, grouped in small umbels above the foliage. This plant is frost-sensitive and needs to be protected from freezing temperatures in winter. It will thrive in full sun, in a well-drained soil, even limestone and occasionally dry in summer. 

The Pelargonium quercifolium, also known as oak-leaved geranium, is a shrub species confined in nature to the southwest of the Cape Province in South Africa, between 400 and 1000 metres (1312 and 3281 feet) above sea level, in a region where summers are hot and dry and where occasional light frosts occur. It grows on rocky or sandy, schist or limestone soils. In nature, this vigorous pelargonium forms a very ramified bush occasionally exceeding 1.50 m (5ft) in height and 70 cm (28in) in width. In our climates, it also has an erect bushy habit, reaching a height of 90 cm (35in) to 1.20 m (4ft) and a width of 60 to 80 cm (24 to 32in). Its pubescent and soft branches, covered with green hairs when young, become woody over time. They bear evergreen, highly aromatic, slightly sticky leaves, divided into 5 or 7 rigid, rounded and coarsely toothed lobes. Their colour is a fairly dark green. Pelargonium quercifolium blooms in summer. The flowers are grouped in small umbels of 5 to 10. They are quite large, sometimes measuring more than 2.5 cm (1in) in length, and are a light purplish pink, with the upper 2 petals marked with red spots and slightly larger than the 3 lower petals. The entire plant is fragrant.

The Pelargonium quercifolium is a wonderful, exotic and undemanding plant, as beautiful to look at as it is delightful to smell. So plant it, in a pot or in the ground, in a place where you can enjoy it, along a path or in a large pot, on the terrace or in the conservatory, never too far from the house, or even inside the house, in a lightly heated room in winter. We came to a halt, one day after the rain, in front of a bed of fragrant geraniums and immersed ourselves in a symphony of delicate fragrances. In mild climates, it is a plant that perfectly withstands summer drought and requires very little maintenance, making it valuable for dry gardens, by the seaside.