Pelagorniums at Pisa Botanical Gardens

Pelagorniums are drought and heat tolerant making them an ideal pot plant in the South East of England. I have one in a pot that is a few years old now. Sheltered in a sunny position against a wall, it grows as an evergreen perennial. They are usually thought of as annuals in the UK. It doesn't need much looking after at all and doesn't mind when I forget to water it sometimes. It was lovely to come across a tiered wall of ceramic pots filled with different varieties of pelagornium at the Botanical Gardens in Pisa. The leaves are often as showy as the flowers, with lots of variations of colour and shape. The flowers come in hot shades of pink, mauve, burgundy and scarlet red as well as snowy white. I'm not a big fan of bold flowers that also have very loud leaves but if I had a large bed to fill I would be tempted to use the variety shown in the last photo as the leaves alone en masse would look stunning.