BRING PELARGONIUMS INDOORS BEFORE FROST

Each year, ahead of harsh weather, I make sure I bring indoors my pelargonium plants.  I've been growing the same ones for years, generation after generation, each spring taking cuttings and discarding old, woody plants.  Today, as weather forecasts hint at nighttime frosts coming soon, I removed all the young pelargoniums from a trough I have under the living room window and transplanted them into four pots (about four in each pot) which will stay in the kitchen on a window bottom until next spring. 

Pelargoniums in pots for overwintering indoors

Pelargoniums in an outside trough

The pelargoniums are about eight months old and they have flowered all summer and are still in flower. Next spring, they will provide cuttings for a new generation.  Originally, I bought one plant and from that ancestor, I have had a yearly supply of youngsters to liven up my garden.  The flowers are a beautiful red, bordering on cerise. They are such a red that my cameras, both the Canon EOS 6D and my iPhone cannot cope with it and the colour always comes out too pink.  If you find a favourite coloured pelargonium, keep propagating it; you won't be sorry.



Unfortunately, today, when potting the transplanted pelargoniums, I found a dratted vine weevil larvae in the compost.  They are a total pain.  Not only does the adult vine weevil damage leaves but it lays its eggs in soil, especially in containers, and they develop into root munching monsters which can easily kill a plant.  I lost an expensive Japanese maple, Orange Dream, that way. They kill hostas and so many other plants and you won't know it's happening until it's too late. Be on your guard for them.