Erodium - Stork's-Bills

Erodiums are hardy perennial plants of the geranium family, similar to geraniums and pelargoniums. Often with a very long flowering period, not demanding, tolerant of stony and dry soils, they are, like Erodium x variabile, perfect plants for rockeries and sunny borders. The foliage of Erodium is decorative. The delicately veined flowers are renewed from June to September, in different shades of white, pale yellow in Erodium chrysanthum, pink or purple, solid or bicoloured depending on the species and varieties. Erodium appreciates dry and stony soils, even if they are limestone. It can tolerate clay soil as long as it is well-drained because it fears winter moisture more than cold. Erodium is used in pots, in rockeries or in a flower bed. If it reigns supreme in a hostile rockery for other plants, in a more welcoming, fresh, and fertile soil, Erodium fears the competition from its neighbours that may suffocate it.