I have found that writing this series on plants and flowers has brought back lots of childhood memories. As a youngster I had my heart set on becoming either a florist or an English teacher and here I am writing about flowers. It seems early childhood interests and dreams might be meaningful and worth revisiting later in life. One such memory is of my Grandmother Adelman who I was especially close to during my teen years and who I went running to after fights with my parents. I would spend an hour or so in her rocking chair telling her my woes and pretty soon I felt better. If she offered advice, I don’t remember it but my guess is she mostly listened to me; probably what high strung teenage girls need most.
She had a southward facing side porch where her many geraniums prospered during the summer which is a vivid visual memory for me. They were mostly red blooms and made me happy the second I entered her porch. They bloomed long into the fall and, although they went dormant through the winter, always came back to life in the spring. I seem to remember her working with stem starts to get new plants going thru the winter as well. I don’t remember if she transferred any of them outside during the summer but the porch was always a lovely sight to behold. Throughout the years, I planted geraniums in summer pots which did well in the mountain climate of Flagstaff. Here at the lake, they continue to grace my summer pots but I treat them as annuals because we leave for the winter and I don’t have the ambition to transplant and transfer them all to Flagstaff for the winter and bring them back in the spring. I didn’t really know much else about geraniums but here are a few facts I discovered.
Geraniums, sometimes known as cranesbills/storksbills, are in the genus Pelargonium with some 422 species of annual, biennial and perennial plants found in temperate regions of the world. Their curly leaves are circular with distinctive veining in white, pink, purple and blue. Pick plants with both healthy looking leaves and flowers with sturdy stems. They are forgiving on soil quality as long as it isn’t too wet and they like part to full sun. Their circular multi-flowered orb blooms off strong stems with each small flower consisting of five cells and one seed in each that propagate by casting their seeds quite a distance from their flowering point. I always deadhead my geraniums down to the stem which encourages additional flowering throughout the summer season. Many species are grown for horticultural purposes, again many with fun names, and most are long lived winter hardy perennials. For potting the Common or Zonal Geranium along with Ivy-Leaf Geranium for hanging baskets or window boxes do well in home gardens. A little trivia, in the language of flowers geraniums represent silliness, the flower is toxic to Japanese beetles and the leaves can be crushed and used to stop bleeding.
Indoors, they can bloom all year with enough sunlight which is rare in the upper Midwest. They should be kept at night temps between 50-60 Fahrenheit so storing them in a three season porch might not cut it for overwintering geraniums in this climate. If you don’t want them in your home during the winter, a partially heated basement might be good for winter storage. Above all, don’t overwater, feed or fertilize when overwintering geraniums. Stems can be easily rooted by making a slanted cut 4 inches below a stem tip above a nod where leaves emerge. Take most of the leaves off, roll the stem in newspaper and put it in the shade for 24 hours so the stem seals and don’t rot. Put the stem in moistened rooting medium/soil and store in a warm shady place for a couple days after which the plant requires indirect light and moderate moisture to root. I might try this with this season’s plants; pack them up with the canned goods, see if I can keep a few growing throughout the winter months in Flagstaff and bring them back for another blooming season here at the lake. Enjoy your geraniums during their peak!