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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Peacock is fanning out its tail

"Peacock" pelargonium / geranium decorates my garden like a peacock with bright shining tail fanning out behind him. It is a source of great delight to see the finely cut leaves with eye-like light green, creamy pink and white spots shimmering somehow yellow in the sky. Thrills of joy fill my heart when I'm rubbing the leaves between fingers, filling the air with an unique and complex fragrance where the powerful scent of rose is overlapped by the fragrances of spice, lemon and mint.


Rose Peacock pelargonium/ geranium
 Peacock pelargonium/ geranium



I fell in love when I saw it last year standing in Vandusen Fragrance Garden. " Peacock Geranium" has a vigorous growing habit, making very large specimens suitable to produce many "useful, scented, edible" leaves. I love to use their fresh leaves and small pink flowers as decorative garnish. Also I steep them (fresly harvested or dried) like the main flavoring ingredient in my herbal tea blends or in my jellies.


The calming effect of them (similar with chamomile) seems to be very important to reduce the inherent stress and anxiety induced by the noisy, crowdy city.

 Rose Peacock pelargonium/ geranium flower
Rose Peacock pelargonium flower


When peacocks feel happy, they begin to dance, opening their feathers like a veil of mistery splotched with orange, green, blue, gold or grayish colors. "Rose Peacock" is a beautiful and unique plant to love or look at it, with silvery leaves glimmering in the sun light when lapping each other like waves. Just like a dancing peacock fans his tail, my plant was trained to shows off it’s beautiful emerald green with golden raindrops umbrella.







 Rose Peacock pelargonium/ geranium scented variegated leaves
Peacock pelargonium  decorative and scented leaves

This variety of rose scented pelargoniums is an extremely hardy and drought tolerant plant which grown easily in the summer sunshine. I have chosen  a colorful ceramic pot, being inspired by the colors of the peacock's feathers  and these days I should enlighten my room with its beauty to protect it by the lower autumn temperatures.

Peacock pelargonium/ geranium  fanning out its tail
Peacock pelargonium fanning out its tail


John Ruskin  had right to say " Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and lilies, for example." ... but can you blame me for being a fan of this peacock?

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