I also did a bit of fall clean up and prep. All the geraniums in the pots I cut them right back like this:
and I popped them into the cold cellar, pot and all to over winter. I don't water them, just let them go dormant, then around the end of March I bring them upstairs and water them and they come back to life. These ones will be five years old in these tubs.
We popped out to Lowes this afternoon and I picked up a couple of Fall Mums to replace the geraniums on the front porch. Nothing says Fall like Fall Mums.
There are still signs of summer in the garden with the odd marigold in flower:
I have a clematis flowering again.
And the Virginia Creeper is flowering, which is a bonus, as I bought it to cover the back fence not for its pretty flower.
I still have the vegetable garden to sort out. My mind is willing but my body is not!!! So I guess that's going to have to wait for another day......
13 comments:
oooo. look at your mums!!! wish i could have a few over here. sigh.
i'm going to keep my geraniums year round here. i've got a good sunny window. then i'll cut them down in the spring before i set them back out.
Gill thanks for visiting my blog & for your comments. I love your garden. We also get marigolds here in Africa - they grow really well & don't need much care at all - if left 'unrestrained', they can almost become like weeds & grow anywhere !
Bye for now
Lynda, Kilimanjaro, East Africa
Your flowers still look lovely - enjoy them while you can :)
I didn't know you could do that to geraniums who knew.... now I know!!!
Thanks I appreciate that tid bit!
Diane at Crafty Passions
Hi Gill,
Beautiful flowers :o)
Oh how I can relate to my body is not willing.lol
Have agreat day!
Blessins',Lib
Nice flower photos - and don't remind about the garden. Mine needs a complete clean-up and I keep being on the road for work and am not getting to it. I am quite certain my mountain of leaves will choke the grass. The mums look absolutely lovely.
thank you all for your comments today....
Gill
Love your mums! All my flowers are about gone am in S.Calif .Soon more will pop up am sure loved your blog drop by some time my dear friend! And i'll be back!
hugs ginger
It's funny, the first time I ever read a blog refer to 'mums', I had no idea what it was talking about.
In Oz, of course, a mum is a mother. Despite our tendency to abbreviate just about anything, we call crysanthemums by their full name. They flower in our autumn too and are often given as Mother's Day gifts in May; mums for mums!
Kate
Yes, gardner that I am, it took me a while to realise that mums were Chrysanths! I have a lot of autumn/fall stuff to do in my small front and back gardens. I have killed two plants already by trying to halve them. Must be something in the soil!
I didn't know you could revive geraniums, either. Not that I have any. But the mums are beautiful, and I might have to get me some.
Oh, and I have Google Reader, and it saved the post you took down... the one "from the Queen". I almost howled, it was so funny. Sorry it's not here now.
Hi Gill... Great post, lovely photos! I love my Fall gardening as much as my Spring gardening. Bought three Clematis for 50 cents each that Lowe's had allowed to nearly die...didn't take long to whip them into shape and they're climbing happily on the back fence! Your mums are really gorgeous. Welcome back home, there's nothing quite like it in the world
Sandi
Beautiful flower pikkies! Here in Warsaw the lady across the street brings her geraniums inside and they appear to bloom all winter (not that I was peering in her windows or anything!) How do you suppose one does that? Any tricks?
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