Site Visit

I spent the day at Gene Stratton Porter Historic Site. After completing the paperwork to return to work on April 4 (and I agreed to work more hours), I toured the green gardens, green with invasive Star of Bethlehem plants. While in the garden, I heard loons call on the lake, a stop on their migration north. Then I headed to the farmhouse to care for the plants we overwintered. There was about a 50% success rate. Acceptable, but Ed and I made plans to improve it next year. Of course, if I only attempted overwintering plants that are amenable to it, my success rate would soar, but I'm pushing the envelope with some of them. I was especially pleased that the heliotrope not only survived but has a flush of new growth.

Last fall I tried an experiment with the pelargonium (commonly called geraniums but not really geraniums). I left several plants in pots, I hung other plants by their roots, and the rest I stacked in a box and covered it. All of them survived and had sprouted new leaves, but the ones I hung upside down were blooming! Unlike my sister, I'm not a scientist, so I can't evaluate the experiment further since I mixed them all up when I potted them.

It seems every few years I develop a new passion in my garden. Lately it has been container gardens. I do not plant "geraniums" in my containers, except for "real" geraniums, commonly called cranesbill. Yes, I can be a plant snob. However, I inherited these geraniums and I thought I'd have some fun with them. There are quite a few containers at the site, all shady, and I'm planning some fun plant combinations for them.