Just a caretaker

I rescued this geranium and it's matching pair from my neighbor Irma's front steps.

She was well into her 90's when she passed away several years ago. These and other plants of hers were left out while no one took care of her house. She lived across the street from me. It has been several years since she passed away and the dead marigolds are still in the house's planter box!

Irma showed me you could keep geraniums over the winter. Something I never had considered was possible. I've had some of my own for many years and I don't know how long she had these.

I think of her and hear her Latvian accent when these are blooming. I'm just the caretaker. They will always be Irma's geraniums.

Beauty to counter so much ugly

There has been so much ugliness in the news this week. I wanted to share some of the beauty in my backyard.

Most of these are repeats from years past. That is the beauty of a perennial garden.

I call this my abstract art. These are a type of geranium.

Coleus in the copper tub with morning glories climbing trellis made from lilac suckers.

Star Tiger Lily

Irma's geranium

Just one of the other geranium pots

Some random photos from this weekend (Is Spring really here?)

Actually went for a run on Saturday. It was the first morning this month with temperatures above freezing.

On the run back home stopped at mom's tree at Lake Calhoun (Bde Maka Ska). The view of downtown Minneapolis is always so beautiful. And yes, the lake is still frozen.

Downtown Minneapolis across the still frozen Lake Calhoun

Mom's tree

I substituted for a co-worker on Saturday at the hardware store. The sunshine and warmer weather brought a steady flow of customers. We ave pansies but no other plants yet.

Co-worker put made an arrow of pansy petals to the hardware store

With temperatures forecast to be above freezing, I finally brought the geraniums up from the basement. Looks like everyone survived the winter with the exception of maybe one.

Also planted the calla lily rhizomes in the big pot. I have enough for another small pot.

The geraniums are out of the basement dungeon and on the porch.

A Sure Sign of Winter Coming

When I finally bring the geraniums in means there is no turning back. I won't leave them with their flowers but they just looked so nice.

I've been successfully over wintering these particular geraniums for several years now. I rescued the two pink ones from my neighbor Irma's front steps after she died. She is the one who told me about keeping them over the winter. The people who bought her house have still to this day never removed the dead marigolds that the realtor planted. It has been 10 years maybe!

Wintered-over geraniums

I am late getting the wintered-over geraniums outside. For several years I have put the geraniums, pots and all, in the basement over the winter. It has been very successful.

In the spring I normally put the pots on the porch for a few days or a week to acclimate the plants. This year because it is so late, I'm just going to put them outside though they will be in the shade of the oak tree.

Will have to see if they make it this year. Also, I wintered-over the calla lilies that Martha gave me. They are sprouting so have my fingers crossed that that experiment worked.