Family:  Geranium (Geraniaceae)

Hardy to Zone 9 to 12, otherwise grown as a garden annual or potted and brought indoors for the winter

Tuberous evergreen perennial native to E Cape Province of South Africa.  Freely flowering, white to cream with red venation to a height of 10 inches.  Soft and fuzzy leaves rounded, yellowish-green, with a central chocolate splotch.  When caressed or broken, these emit a sweet scent of pineapple.  Traditional use (TAM):  A pleasant tea is made from the fresh or dried leaves.  The leaves are rubbed on dry or cracked skin to speed healing.   Sow seed in spring, or indoors, anytime.  Prepare a deep flat with fast-draining potting soil.  Seeds are fitted with a corkscrew aril so it is best to orient seeds point down into the surface (the way they would drill in in nature) and cover with about 1/8 inch of sand or grit.  Keep warm, evenly moist and in the light until germination, which occurs within 3 weeks.  Seedlings germinate up through the sand.  The third leaf is a true leaf that shows the scalloped margin so characteristic of this genus.   Pot up to successively larger pots, always using the fast draining mix.  Keep plants warm and in the light, and water when they droop. Plants grow quickly and bloom.  Keep in pot culture on windowsill or summer patio or transplant out to frost-free rock garden one foot apart.

5 seeds/pkt., Certified Organically Grown