My Hardy Geraniums

My favorite geraniums are these raspberry-colored ones. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

My Hardy Geraniums

As you think about what plants you want to have in pots this year, make sure you include geraniums. I have had a variety of different geranium colors in pots for many years, giving me wonderful color in the dead of a dreary winter.

Most geraniums offered on the market are annuals, and it is assumed they will be planted one year and allowed to die when cold weather sets in. Even if you have them planted in your garden, you should be able to dig them up and move them inside in pots to continue growing, and blooming, through winter.

The raspberry-colored geranium in the top photo is my favorite. The plant is now 4 foot tall and lives in my business office, keeping my printer and desk company through the year. It tends to bloom most of the year taking a short break around fall.

I do give them watered down fertilizer, 1/2 tsp per gallon of water every other month, and worm castings a couple of times a year mixed into the soil. I remove the top soil, mix in the worm castings, then replace it all back into the pot. Every three years or so I remove as much soil as I can and replace it with new soil.

This next geranium is blooming in living room pot. Its red color pops nicely against the purple leaves, a beacon among the sea of plants wintering over in the bay window. The red color compliments the red in the amaryllis blooms currently in bloom.

These red geraniums are pretty among the purple leaves. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

One more reason why you should save at least one geranium for winter. This is a tomato red geranium blooming in another pot in my dining room, brightening up the area on cloudy, gray days.

Tomato red geraniums in bloom in my living room. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Now these geraniums are different than the native, hardy geraniums. Even though they are only annuals with a little care they can bloom year after year if you keep them inside over winter.

Here’s another way to bring in these colors to your room, our Ribbon Flowers Lap Quilt will add the same colors to the back of a chair or sofa and be ready for that unplanned nap!

Charlotte