Geraniums, red and white....

I was at the bookstore yesterday and browsing through the different garden books and found one about planting in shade. Before I go any further, I wanted to issue a correction. I had heard the British guy on Victory Garden say that you could separate hostas any time of the year. I wrote that in one of my blogs. Now I have read in this garden book that only early spring, once they were up, and late fall was the best time to transplant. I hope I didn't give anyone an idea that would cause them problems. I do think when we are having rainy season so late this far in the summer that I will go ahead and separate one that is crowding out my red peony. My neighbor needs a few more filler plants and I will find somewhere to put some. The book was encouraging new gardeners not to think their hostas were dead as they do come up later that most foliage plants. I will probably go back and buy that book but wasn't in the mood at the time. A Larry somebody had written it and there was a lot of good information in it, then I can give you the author and the whole title. Planting in the Shade sounds familiar.



Also I was able to review some information that I thought I knew but wasn't positive about it. Garden Design ran an article at one time about a person who collected geraniums. But they were nothing like what I thought they should be. Once I figured out that they were actually called Hardy Geraniums, I went out and bought one. Sadly the white one is not that showy, as I have since seen some very colorful ones that are out there. The positive thing about them is that I have transplanted it many times and it is very hearty. I never lost a one and the Iowa winters don't effect them at all.

The other variety that Iowans flock to stores to buy is the Garden Geranium. I don't have much success with them in Iowa as the heat means you have to baby them a lot. If they get too dried out the blooms fail right away and then your are waiting for the next blooms which takes a long time. I have a planter full of these geraniums though that I will share pictures of later on when they are fully blooming. It was a project that my father-in-law had going on all winter. I took it outside after he passed away and it is regrouping and ready to start blooming again. I am keeping it in the shade somewhat out of the heat and will watch it with a watering can forever.
I have done a lot of weeding the last two days and now we are ready for more rain coming from Nebraska. It should be here in about an hour. More water, more weeds and more grass which keeps me busy. Thanks for reading.....