Erodium

Members of the geranium family, with around 60 species through Europe. Some dwarf in stature, make excellent ornamentals for sunny well-drained places, like rock gardens, troughs and the like. They make attractive hummocks, with fine ferny foliage, or round crinkled leaves. Many small flowers, leaves in pink, white and yellow over the summer.

Open flowers with nectar and pollen over a long season provide a huge attraction to smaller bees and hoverflies in particular.The larvae of brown argus have Erodium as one of their main food-plants; currently this delightful little butterfly seems to increasing in gardens (including ours!), possibly in relation to climate change and recent garden trends of planting stork's-bills in drier gardens.