It was already late april when I decided to sow a few french geranium seeds I "harvested" from the one's I bought last year. Way too late, I thought, but back then I still hoped it was going to be a sunny, warm summer. Turned out it was the "summer that never was", and I lost all hope of ever seeing any flower(s) on this geranium at all. Can you imagine the smile on my face when I saw this little beauty on September 3rd? She had three sisters, but this one is the prettiest. Almost a fortnight later they have faded, of course, but digitally they live on! Made it! ( photo / image / picture from gardenelf's Garden )
Well done gardenelf. I wouldn't have thought you'd get flowers so late in the year either but you were obviously doing something just right. Even better is the fact that the flower is so very pretty. :-D
Yes, Eileen, she was worth the wait! I also learnt something, or rather, two things: -Sow these plants early ( ) -These seeds can produce identical flowers to the mother plant, which none of my other "ordinary" geraniums managed. Next year I'll buy some seeds and sow them very early
Very pretty. You could try to keep this over winter. All the other geraniums are easy keepers. They just need a bright window and adequate fertilizer and water.
That's a very nice bloom,..well worth keeping indoors for next spring,..that's if you have room,..i used to have Geraniums,..took cuttings,..then when winter came,..oops,..i had so many i wanted to take indoors. You were given a bonus with that bloom,..well done.
Such a pretty bloom. Reminds me of parfait. Great job on getting it to this point in such a short time and during such a rough "almost summer".
Oh yes, I'd love to keep all my geraniums over winter, but I´ve heard the temperature has to be about 12ºC, is this true? (I´m secretly hoping it isn´t, because my shed gets much colder and my house,even unheated, is too warm)
Hi Gardenelf, you are in luck with overwintering your Geraniums,..or Pelargonium. First its not true that you need to keep them at about 12 degrees Celsius,..anything above 5 degrees Celsius will do. You have several choices with your Geranium. INDOORS AS A HOUSEPLANT. Keep it indoors,..in a cool temperature,..giving it lots of bright light,..(if not enough light is given then it will get leggy). SHED POTTED. Keep them in a shed,..in a pot,..prune them down to about half,..once again cool temperature,..slightly damp,..never drying out completely,..place a paper bag over the plant,keeping it in the dark SHED BARE ROOT. Prune them down to about half,..remove them from the pot,..shake all the soil off,..hang them with string,..or place them in paper bags overwinter,..keeping it in the dark. You could also take several cuttings and have them grow as houseplants overwinter,..but i don't recommend this its bothersome keeping an eye on many little plants,..also you need to keep an eye on the "potted" plants from time to time for insects and also keeping them slightly damp,..Geraniums can bear the heat,..and they also like it cool,..so above 5 degrees Celsius and up to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Glad you all like her as much as I do, thanks . Once again thanks for your advice, Philip! Sounds like my hallway is the perfect place, I think the coldest it's ever been is 8ºC. Plenty of light, too, there is a large window. The weatherforecast is damp, cool and windy, so I'll be taking them indoors very soon.
I hope everything goes as planned,..it is a very nice Geranium and well worth saving,..but i would also take at least one cutting to be on the safe side.
French geranium update: it's still flowering, looking more beautiful than ever! This must be the craziest year for gardening ever, such late blooms. My nasturtiums, lobelia, campanula and cosmos are still beautiful. Other years would see these flowers all soggy and half dead come half October. Oh yes, before I forget, the geranium cuttings have all rooted. :-D Very easy so far, now it's just a matter of getting them through the winter.
We have some pelagorum geraniums survive even below freezing weather when right next to the house, so definitely can survive less than 12 centigrade.
