Saving the Geranium Family
with Robin Parer 

The Geranium Family is large
and contains many beautiful members.
But economic pressures on nurseries,
the fads and foibles of the plant buying public,
as well as habitat loss are bringing some members
of the family to the point of extinction.

Here is Monsonia speciosa, a genus in Geraniaceae.
Seed was collected before its habitat was turned into a shopping center.

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.

We will look at the factors involved in the acceleration
and decline within the family
and what we can do about it.

And we will learn how to propagate
the weird and wonderful to insure their survival.

There will be plants for sale.

Saturday, June 25, 2011
10:00 AM until 12:00 Noon.

FREE for MRAS members
$10 a person for non-members

Space is limited so please register today!

This program is sponsored by the
Markham Regional Arboretum Society
of Concord, California.

Introducing Robin Parer

Robin Parer is an Australian born horticulturist who lectures frequently to garden groups and societies throughout the United States. She has been featured in Horticulture Magazine, Martha Stewart Living magazine, Sunset magazine, The New York Times, House and Garden Magazine as well as having appeared in many other newspaper and magazine articles.

Robin Parer has owned and operated Geraniaceae Nursery in Marin County near San Francisco, California for the past twenty-six years, and has collected and propagated over 500 geranium species, selected color forms and hybrids.

She also has a large collection of erodium species, scented leaf pelargonium, angel and pansy face pelargonium and rare pelargonium species from southern Africa. She has traveled widely, collecting both in the field, and from nurseries in the U.K., Europe, South America, South Africa and Australasia.

Robin is a regular participant in the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. She has won Best of Show several times for her Marketplace Exhibit, and has also received an Outstanding Marketing Presentation Award. She has also received an Annual Award from The California Horticultural Society for Outstanding and Meritorious Contributions to Horticulture in California.

Specimen plants from her collection of Geraniaceae are displayed in a one acre demonstration garden along with a collection of perennial flowering shrubs, and garden sculpture by local artists. The garden and nursery are open by appointment. Please visit www.geraniaceae.com to learn more about the plants she collects and grows.