Update 6/29 - Gaura 'Cherry Brandy'

We were told before the workshop that the Geranium Family is large and contains many beautiful members. Robin detailed the economic pressures on nurseries, the fads and foibles of the plant buying public, as well as habitat loss, that are bringing some members of the family to the point of extinction. It is estimated that over 10,000 named cultivars of pelargoniums have been lost in the last 150 years. Some cultivated forms of hardy geraniums are going the same way. She gave an interesting slide show of the endangered varieties and she brought along example plants for sale to the attendees. She also demonstrated how to propagate these somewhat rare and getting rarer varieties; each of the attendees came away with their own starter "collection".

Robin has been operating her nursery, Geraniaceae, for 26 years specializing in primarily Pelagroniums, one of the species of the Geraniaceae family. It was evident that she is very passionate about her nursery and its plants. For me, and possibly others at the workshop, I took away from the workshop that without some individual and collective effort many of the geraniums we know from our past may not be around or available unless we collect or save them individually or by supporting the few nurseries still selling them, or societies attempting to establish collections (one example can be seen at Geraniums Online sponsored by the California Central Coast Geranium Society). Some of those geraniums you remember your grandmother had in her garden or in pots (e.g. facy leaf, vining, etc.) just aren't being grown or sold as they used to be due to the many factors mentioned above. So, look around and take care of those "old timers" and share them around if you can.

Note: Robin will be at our July 30th Saturday sale. If you see some plant on her web site you wish to buy and contact her ahead of time (see the web site), she will bring the plant for the July sale. She also does mail order via her web site.

Editor's note: An interesting "learning point" from the workshop during our "hands-on" taking cuttings for propagation was Robin's use of "white willow powder" as her "stimulant" of choice to enhance the probability that the cuttings would root. This was a new technique to me. Robin claimed that her success for rooting cuttings improved from 40% to 80% with the use of the willow powder. I've been moderately involved with plant propagation via cuttings for the last 5 years, used several rooting hormones to enhance rooting and this use of white willow bark powder as a rooting stimulant was new to me. A Google search (click) will get you lots of anecdotal evidence about what willow water and willow bark powder will do if you are trying to propagate plants... (and other various herbal cures for what ails you)... and if you search deep enough you will get at least several results with some scientific backing on what willow bark powder can do. My incomplete thoughts at this time is that there is probably some truth to it but Robin is the first commercial propagator I've known (not known very many though) who uses this technique. Geraniaceae, Robin, swears by it for her success.