Geraniums and Lilies

My friend, Debby, asked me to blog about what I did with last year's geraniums. So, Debby, this one's for you!

Geraniums don't "winter-over" here in Kansas. At the end of the last year's blooming season I just couldn't pull them up and toss them out. So my friend, Dorla, suggested I hibernate them for the winter.

This is what I did:
1. End of October-beginning of November, pulled them out of pots, leaving a clump of dirt on each root ball.
2. Did NOT cut back. Left leaves and dried blooms on.
3. Put two or three, however many would fit, into a brown paper bag.
4. Put them in dark room (in our case the mechanical room down in the basement where's it's warm and dark) and "put them to bed".
5. In February took them from mechanical room to garage, leaving everything "as is". They could begin to adjust to cooler temps and get a little light occassionally.
6. Watered once every week "or so".
7. In March put them loosely in pots, didn't add any soil, continued watering. By mid-March new leaves began to sprout.
8. End of March cut back old stems to new growth and re-potted with new soil. When it was warm enough, I set pots on back steps to get some sun.
9. About mid-April, I repotted with good, new soil and fertilized with Miracle Grow. Left outside unless temps dipped down to freezing. New growth came along nicely. All but one very skinny plant survived.

This is how they look now. Estimate that I saved at least $25-30 on new plants! Will try it again this year!

At the end of last summer we went to the Wichita Day Lily Society sale held at the Wichita Botanica. We purchased six clumps of day lilies for $2-$5 each. I planted them along the north side of the house, which needed a little color. I was afraid that they might not come up because I didn't mulch them before winter set in and that side of the house really got a lot of snow. They are now blooming!

I'm so glad I thought to make a little sketch of what was planted where. I knew I'd never remember! So here is "Holiday in Italy" (red) and "Delicate Design". There are more to bloom as summer progresses. We have a total of seven plants and we spent $18! What a deal! Highly recommend it for local readers who want to add these flowers to the landscape!