Weekend Plants and a TIP

On the way to the bridal shower, on Saturday, I noticed a sign reading "Rummage/Bake/Plant Sale 9-2pm"

After the shower was over and the clean-up was done, I RUSHED out the door, with only 20 minutes to spare. I got there just in time, it seems. The rummage sale was worthless ($5.00 books? Please.) but the plant sale was a hit. Because it was nearly closing time, when I went to pay for a few flowers I had picked, I was 'gifted' an entire flat of different herbs!

Some of the purchased treasures?

A lilac start (some of you may remember my infatuation for lilacs...finally, I have one of my own!)
Pansies
Begonias, orange and pink
a container of chives

Some of the gifted items?

More chives
pineapple speariment
apple mint
catnip
oregano
Today I get to enjoy the sunshine and transplant them! Oh-how my fingers LOVE the dirt!

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Now for a TIP. Maybe everyone knows this, but JUST in case you don't, I figure I would share it. Many people don't realize how hardy geraniums are. Some say they are annuals but I will have none of it. Others, I have read, think that you must dig them up, shake off the dirt and hang them upside down in a cool, dark place during winter months. That is getting CLOSER to the truth-but still, too much work for me.

All you have to do to enjoy your geranium plants year after year, is to cut them off at the base when they have stopped blooming. Put a paper bag over the pot and forget about it. Once spring has sprung-take the bag off, put the pot in the sun and water. When yo utake off the bag, you will see new shoots that are WHITE. These will eventually turn green once they get into the sun.

Now LAST year, I was even too lazy to put paper bags on them-I didn't have any at the time. I didn't even cut them off at the base. I just threw my pots in the garage.

I unearthed them yesterday and brought them out into the sunshine. This is what it looks like.

Because our garage has a window, the shoots are green and one has even blossomed! It will grow large, healthy and vibrant now that it is outside.

So-don't think of geraniums as annuals ANY LONGER. If you have an itch for color-get geramiums-you will enjoy them for years to come!

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land... Song of Solomon 2: 11,12