GERANIUMS

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose & Public Speaking

Click on each photograph to enlarge.

 Geraniums

Home.  Copyright 2013 Marcia Norwood

Geraniums are old-fashioned standards for beds, borders, and containers.  They have been a gardener's favorite for well over a century, and are still one of the most popular plants today.
 

Navy Pier.  Copyright 2011 Marcia Norwood

The first flower I ever planted was a bright red geranium.  When I was a little girl, in the 50's, my Granny Lucille taught me how to plant geraniums in the ornate concrete pots that graced her front porch.

Cousin Tandra, Granny Lucille, Sister Gloria, Marcia.  Copyright 1958 Marcia Norwood

Now I'm a grandmother.   I still have one of Granny's ornate concrete pots and (except for one year when I broke tradition) I still plant red geraniums in it each and every spring.
  

Granny Lucille's Flower Pot.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Most gardeners encounter a Pelargonium (a relative of the perennial geranium) and not a geranium at all.  True or hardy or perennial geraniums belong to the genus Geranium. 

Nursery Plants.  Copyright 2010 Marcia Norwood

Sometimes they are referred to as cranesbill geraniums, because their seed pods do somewhat resemble a crane's bill.  

Their foliage is beautiful.  

Flowers float on top of the plants.......

Home.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

...in shades of white, pink, magenta, purples and blues.  

Historical Village, Pella, Iowa.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Historical Village, Pella, Iowa.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Traditional bedding types love hot weather, and hold up well in dry conditions.    Regal, also called Martha Washington, geraniums are more delicate-looking and do better in cool conditions of spring and fall.  

Nursery Plants.  Copyright 2010 Marcia Norwood

  Though most geraniums are grown as annuals, they are perennials in Zones 10 - 11.  

Home.  Copyright 2013 Marcia Norwood

 Some of my friends bring their geraniums indoors
            during the cold Missouri winters...
 

Historical Village, Pella Iowa.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

                  ...and replant them outdoors in the spring.  

Historical Village, Pella, Iowa.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

 They will bloom indoors all year long if they get enough light.
    

Historical Village, Pella, Iowa.  Copyright 2010 Marcia Norwood

Historical Village, Pella, Iowa.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

“Long experience has taught me 

that people who do not like geraniums 

have something morally unsound about them. 

Sooner or later you will find them out; 

you will discover that they drink, 

or steal books, 

or speak sharply to cats. 

Never trust a man or a woman 

who is not passionately devoted 

to geraniums.” 

Beverley Nichols

John Beverly Nichols, Male

(1898-1983)

Author, Playwright, Journalist, Composer & Public Speaker

Author Home & Garden, Children's Books, 

Biographies & Memoirs

Website

http://www.timberpress.com/search/Beverley+Nichols

You will discover geraniums everywhere 
      throughout my gardens: 
              planted in containers,
                       in hanging baskets,
                            in garden art  (like my vintage bicycle)
                                   and also planted in garden beds in the ground.

My Vintage Bicycle.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

My Vintage Bicycle.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

My Vintage Bicycle.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

My Vintage Bicycle.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Geraniums in a Whiskey Barrel.  Home.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Home.  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood

Who wouldn't love geraniums?

Well then - two of my neighbors don't like my geraniums or any of my flowers for that matter.

Maybe John Beverly Nichols was right. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and bring a friend!

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

Geraniums Galore!!!  My Front Porch .  Copyright 2012 Marcia Norwood