Potting Up Overwintered Geraniums, (and I’m not sure why I didn’t just buy new!)

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Even as I pulled up the geraniums last fall, and made the decision to hang them in my basement, I knew that I might just end up with dried out, lifeless, not to be resurrected ever again, geraniums. But, I did it anyway, and for those interested, I’ll tell you why. And yes, even as I write this, I know that I could go to the greenhouse and get fresh, happy plants to replace the ones I saved, for $30-40.

I don’t even really love geraniums, but I got several at the season clearance sale last summer at a local greenhouse. They weren’t the Lowe’s typical seed geraniums. They were gorgeous shades of pink, deep red and salmon that I hadn’t grown before. I had also read numerous articles about geraniums attracting and paralyzing those horrible shiny green beetles. I had nothing to lose.

Last October, before a killing freeze, I pulled up all my geraniums. I shook the loose dirt off, clipped off the dead leaves. I let them sit on the deck for a day. Instead of hanging them from rafters, I tossed them loosely into a big paper shopping bag and hung that on a nail in the basement. Sometime mid-February, I remembered the geraniums and misted the roots with water. That’s all I’ve done to them up until today.

We are almost to our last predicted frost date, here in northwest Missouri and it’s time to bring those dry, dead looking geraniums into the light.

It is April 30th. I dumped the plants out onto the deck. They really look like they should just go into the compost right now. I have gotten this far, however, so I’m pushing onward. I trimmed each plant back to about 2-3” from the roots. Some of the stems do feel soft, so there might be some potential life there. After cleaning them up, I continued the carefree treatment of these geraniums and tossed them into a bucket of water for 1 hour.

I filled some recycled 4” disposable pots with potting soil and peat moss, and planted the geraniums at the same level they were last year when I pulled them from my garden pots.

That’s it, so far! In about 2 weeks, I will either be back on this blog to share the happy news that I have geraniums, in colors that I loved last year, growing new leaves, coming back from almost-dead. Or, I will be sharing a picture on Instagram of the flat of geraniums I’m carrying out of the greenhouse!

Either way, I will have geraniums again. And, yes, in case you were wondering, I did watch those jerk beetles land in the geraniums and slow down and some died. I didn’t have much damage to my other plants from Japanese beetles last year, so maybe it’s worth tucking a few geraniums into your annual pots or beds?

If we are friends on Instagram, I’ll be documenting this process there too.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Anne

Instagram.com/prairiewomanarts

Aromatherapy rope coaster

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Another craft idea that didn’t make the cut. I was playing around with coasters and added the leftover quilt block piece to it to hopefully soak up the essential oil. This idea didn’t work. On another one, I put lavender buds between the fabric and the rope. Again, it didn’t do much to add any aroma to the room.

These are the sorts of things that don’t make it to social media. I thought this could be a great idea at the time and used up bits of rope that were too small to use in the baskets and bannetons that I was creating that year. Now, the coaster works and makes a good barrier between furniture and a hot mug. The aromatherapy idea in the coaster, didn’t work.

But, it also didn’t really matter to me that it was a failed idea, because my best times are always when I’m making something, whether it becomes something or not. I loved those carefree days in my studio, where I could get so absorbed in playing with the materials I had at hand that nothing else mattered.

I still love using cotton rope, but don’t have a space to make big, creative messes yet after my move. Some day!

I’m always looking for extra ways to use my cotton rope coasters and came up with this one morning while I was preparing my cup of tea.

The fabric is a trimming from a quilt top that I finished. After making the rope coaster, I trimmed and stitched the block to the coaster. I put a couple drops of a favorite essential oil on the coaster and enjoy the subtle aromatherapy when I set my warm mug on top.

Subtle aromatherapy rope coaster

Subtle aromatherapy rope coaster

I was trying to see if I could make a coaster that would throw aroma when a hot mug was set on it. Seemed like a plausible idea, but didn’t work out as planned!