My interview guest for this episode is Matija Strlic, chairman of the International Geraniacea Group. Matija has collected Pelargoniums for more than 25 years and has travelled the world to observe them in their natural habitat. This is the first part (of two) of my interview with Matija. In this interview you will discover - What winter and summer growing Pelargoniums are and what you need to know to grow them at home - That there are a few varieties of Pelargoniums native from Anatolia that can resist cold winters with frost and snow - Into which sections the genus Pelargonium is divided and in which habitats we find species of these sections - How Pelargonium species characteristics can change depending on their exact habitat - Why long nectar-tubes of Pelargoniums make them interesting for studies of insects and co-evolution Matija takes us on an exciting journey to different places, many but not all in South Africa, and shares how geology, surface topology and the oceans around the Cape of South Africa shape an enormous diversity of Pelargonium habitats. In the second part of this episode (released on April 20th 2021) Matija will share more about how climate change and human activity affect these habitats and recommend places to go to get amazed by the diversity of Pelargoniums in South Africa.