The Official End of Summer

 I brought in the geraniums today. 

No, I don't remember what colors are here. The one at the back has buds so I'll know when it blooms. 

I adore geraniums because they are incredibly sturdy plants. They come in such a wide variety of colors, too. 

This pink one has been coming in and going out for at least five years; probably longer because I can't exactly remember when I got it. It's quite leggy and is in desperate need of a pruning. I'm going to let it get acclimated to being inside and then I will slowly trim the bracts in half. 

Growing up, my dad's father had this red geranium which was six FEET across. It sat in the window seat in his living room, which was a south window. He covered the windows with white gauzy curtains so the light was diffused. That had to help the geranium deal with direct summer sun. It was too big to haul in and out. He just left it there and would water it twice a week. 

After he died, my aunts took cuttings and it was tossed out. I can't imagine a geranium would last a long time but we didn't have a place for something that big or I think mom would have claimed it. 

So, summer is officially over. We have two more 70 degree days and then it tanks and I will have to wear layers. I was ready to bring the geraniums inside. The morning and most of the afternoon was rainy so they got a good soaking before coming inside. In this dumpster fire of a year, they are a nice reminder that there is beauty if you look. 

Beverage:  water

Deb

It's Deck, and More Time, Part 3

Having pulled weeds from around the deck, it was time to look at deck flowers. The big thing is where do I want to sit when I'm out there. Last year, I sat with my back to the west deck wall. That was nice, but surrounding the birdbath with flowers, while pretty, didn't seem to be conducive to birds actually using it. To me, it appears big enough to find, but maybe all the foliage around it was scary to them. In placing feeders, you are told to put them where birds have a visible means of escape, should a predator come by. Perhaps that is true of birdbaths.

I think I shall put the chair up against the house this year, adjacent to the back door. I moved the geraniums to the deck, which means it's officially deck time. I have to repot all but the large one as those eggs I saw last year are all over the tops of the small geraniums. I also think the white one will have to be replaced. It didn't overwinter very well.

The geraniums will go along the north deck wall, where they get full benefit of the afternoon sun. Then, I'll put a couple of pots along the west deck wall and leave open, mostly, the birdbath.

I started with the small pot which will, probably, sit on the southwest corner at an angle.

It contains two different colors of sweet potato vines and a plant in the middle that opens during the day but closes at night which I can't remember the name of, but I left the pink tag so when I can't remember, I can look at the tag. Below that is a pot of all marigolds. I love marigolds.

Next up, I filled a couple pots for adjacent to the birdbath.

There are petunias, including a "wave" petunia in shades of yellow and orange, in the back pot. In front is a verbena, a Gerbera daisy, and a strange plant I knew I had to have. I'm not sure I left the pink tag in that pot so I don't remember what it was. The verbena is supposed to cascade over the side. The daisy just called to me. Such a vibrant color.

Yesterday, before heading to cross-stitch club, I took care of the front step flowers.

I keep coming back to begonias. I tried impatiens but they did not do well here. Normally, the plants are on the south side of the steps but I had to replace my dairy box this year and it's an actual Coleman cooler, twice the size of the old box. It couldn't be at the top of the steps where the old one sat. This means the begonias have to be on the north side of the steps. I don't know how that will work since begonias prefer shade and this side gets half again as much sun as sitting against the south handrail, but we'll see.

In the span of three days, I reduced the four boxes to two. What's left are more verbena for a pot, three cosmos, and the plants for the front by the arbor. I have seed packets I want to try this year so one pot is being given over to seeds. The arbor area needs to be weeded and a couple of volunteer trees trimmed way back and sprayed with Round-Up in an attempt to kill them. That's a weekend project, not something to tackle after a full day at work. Also on the docket is weeding the front flower bed to the north of the steps. You can see the green through the hand rail. That's where another birdbath sits and where the hummingbird and seed feeders go.

All of these projects take 90 minutes to 2 hours to complete, at best. This is what I need to remember to do. Pace myself. Do a bit here and there. It's important to create an inviting space, one I want to be in. Small steps this past weekend toward that goal.

Beverage:  Earl Grey tea

Deb

Overwinter This

If you've visited here for any length of time, you know I overwinter geraniums every year. The big pink one has been around for, I think 8 years now. I bring them in when nighttime temperatures get below 40 and they don't go back out until nighttime temperatures get to 55 or above. I repotted a couple last year and tossed one that didn't make it. It was spindly when I brought it in and I worried, but it hung on until April when it developed root rot and fell over.

One of the geraniums I repotted didn't really need it, but when I moved it outside, I noticed this on the top of the soil.

Further examination showed these are egg masses. I don't get grossed out by much, but this was unpleasant. I wound up dumping all the soil out of this pot and moving this geranium to a different pot entirely. This pot was soaked in dish detergent and used, in June for annuals.

No, I don't completely know what bug chose to lay eggs in my geranium. This was the ONLY one, out of 5 pots, which had this. Initially, I thought it was salt from watering, but when I moved the geranium outside, I noticed the little spheres. A friend has suggested these are stink bug eggs. I assumed they laid their eggs in my walls and that's why I'll never, ever, be rid of them. They stay warm in the insulation of the walls, hatch and come out to fly around the warmth of the living room lamps. (Hamlet loves to chase them, but he's learned you don't bite them.)

I'm at a loss about what these could have been. Whatever they were, they were unceremoniously dumped in the back yard. I'm planning to repot all the geraniums this spring, to give them fresh soil. I haven't seen anything like this but there are still 2 months to go before they are back on the deck for spring, summer and fall.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast tea

Deb

That's Up

Finally got one poster up on the wall in the office.

No, it's not square in the middle of the wall. I'm going to put a couple of photos near the right corner; photos of the girls. I got the cutest frames. I am still debating about the Iowa football poster. I may bring it home and put it on the wall in the back room. Originally, it was going to go on the wall to the right, above the cabinet. Now, I'm thinking that corner will be too cluttered. I love the Fantasia poster on the wall, however. It came out exactly as dynamic as I thought it would.

I tried to hang one of the items on the wall behind my desk. The press-on hangers will stick to the wall but not the back of the cross-stitch I have for that wall because the back of the frame is fuzzy. I am going to need to put a nail in the wall, something I was hoping to avoid. I need to get a couple more hangers like I used to hang the framed poster. What I have won't hold what I have left to hang. I need to find a plant stand for the aloe and the geranium in my window. I really should transplant the geranium into something else. Spring is here which means I start contemplating what plants go on the deck. That will spur me to repot the geranium.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Evolution-Part 3

So, what does the office look like now, right now. Well, looking east northeast, you have this view.

There is a clock radio and an old lap top computer sitting on top of the bookshelf. I'm taking the clock radio home with me. I thought it would pick up my jazz station but it doesn't. We are very close to the transmission tower for WBBM radio but that shouldn't matter with the signal. It's all staticy. I have several bags of give away stuff to which I'll add it. The framed photo is from our first trip to Walt Disney World back in 1990. It's of a sign we saw in what used to be MGM-Hollywood. We were in line to see the Muppet Babies show. It says, "You are neither here nor there". So many days feel like that.

I have photo albums from old jobs on the second shelf. The third shelf has a clipboard and yellow legal pads for when I go into the field, as well as a dictionary. The bottom shelf has my work boots and my safety vests. That blue bag you see on the floor has a couple awards and a framed cross-stitch. Those were behind me in the old office and will go behind me here. I need to get more of those 3M picture hanging things which simply adhere to the wall. I use them at home and they are wonderful. I don't feel like putting holes in the new wall to hang my stuff.

Here's looking east southeast.

You can see how well the decal works. That's my aloe and geranium in the window. the sill is very wide and they would work to sit there forever, but I really want a decorative plant stand. I have an elephant-shaped watering can and I could put that on the bottom shelf of a plant stand. Right now, I take the geranium to the sink in the kitchen and drench it. I should put it in something other than the green plastic container it was in at the nursery.

I'm not sure about stenciling something along the wall. I had thought of a row of small tiger hawks right under the sill. Then I though about flowers above the window. Right now, I like it plain. The yellow is bright and sunny and is such a mood elevator, even on these bitter cold or heavily overcast days. I like being able to look out and across for a good ways. The sun is in my eyes for about 15 minute in the morning now, but I don't mind. I didn't have much more than a parking lot view in the old office and I didn't put my desk where I could see out because that put my back to the door, which I did not like.

This is looking west northwest.

I love the dark gray. Black would have been way too dark. I got paint to paint the frame for the Fantasia poster and just need to get that done. Once it's done, then I can bring the Hawkeye 12-0 season poster and Fantasia and figure out where to put them. I think I want the corner to be my picture area. I've got this huge ivory wall behind me, but I don't want to fill it completely with stuff. I have a panoramic photo of Chicago that I'm just not sure where to put. I need to get the posters up first and then I'll have a better feel for where to put the Chicago poster.

Believe it or not, my office is the most personalized. Other people just don't seem to be into hanging stuff other than phone numbers on post its, on their walls. Gene is a new dad so he has photos of his daughter on a bookshelf in his office, but he has all this wall space and there's nothing on it. Maybe it's me in that I like to be surrounded by things that make me happy.

You can see into the main office there, a bit. We had a long discussion about the color of that space. Mike had picked out a more muted blue; one that had more gray in it. I wasn't sure that was a good color and suggested the color we ultimately chose. It works perfectly. It's bright and inviting but not loud. We have a skylight in that main area and this blue works perfectly with the natural light. If you're looking for paint, well, they left us the unused gallons.

So, I went from this...

(Those are the awards and the cross-stitch I have to put up.) to this.

(Nancy, your design suggestion was perfect.) Yeah, I think this works.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

One Week Later

When I got back from California, the weather in Chicagoland had turned to the chill of approaching winter. Never you mind that the Weather Channel is saying we are going to have an above normal temperature winter. It's still winter. There was a storm brewing in the Pacific which could, in 10 days, make life miserable for the mid-section of the country and parts of the Upper Midwest. In came the geraniums.

Part of bringing them in is to cut them back and remove dead flower stalks and leaves. That's a half-day's job. My kitchen smelled like geraniums for a time. I got them all moved to the back room where they have access to sunlight and I'll sort of remember to water them because that's where the litter boxes are.

They look kind of sad, stripped of their flowers and slightly leggy until they send out side shoots and fill in the leaves. I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention to them until I came into the room close to Thanksgiving, about a week after getting them settled in the room.

Oh my. Flowers. Deep pink, salmon, white and red. The large pink geranium; sort of the granddaddy of all of them, the very first one I ever bought a long time ago; doesn't fit over here. I still don't have it in a permanent winter spot. I took the other white geranium to the office where it's going to spend its days, permanently, in an east window.

I water once a week; feed every other. They have adapted well. I look forward to a winter of occasional flowers. I need to get one of those deep purple geraniums next year. That would look outstanding with this group.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

End of the Season

My kitchen sink sprouted.

Before I left on vacation, I thought I should bring in my geraniums. But, as vacation grew closer and closer,  I was so busy and they were easily forgotten. Plus, the weather was downright balmy for Chicago in late October and early November. I left Chicago on a day when it was to be 74 degrees with the night cooling off to the upper 50s. That's hardly weather to bring in your geraniums. The Friday I was in Anaheim, California, the temperatures in Chicagoland dropped. It was in the upper 50's with lows in the low 40s and dipping down to the upper 30s. Too much of that and I don't have geraniums anymore.

I was, however, exhausted from traveling and the geraniums stayed outside, even when I wound up scraping frost off the Jeep window. I knew I was tempting fate, but was too tired to make an effort to resist it. Finally, last week, I brought them all in. Some were pretty straggly from a summer of benign neglect. Some were in desperate need of more potting soil. Thank you squirrels. I took off all the dead foliage, trimmed back a couple which were in danger of tipping over the pot. That thing called "gravity" is not kind to an unbalanced plant. I watered; really soaked them; and added plant food. Everyone looks okay.

The white blooming geranium is, I think, destined for my new office. I'll need to get a nicer pot than the green nursery pot it spent the summer in. I have to figure out where to put the big pink geranium, not shown in the photo. I'm thinking it would do fine in the back room. I just need to find a sturdy chair or something on which to put it.

And so we have lasted through another growing season. Now to remember to water these more than once every 3-4 weeks.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Decking the Deck

Almost everything is planted and the overwintered geraniums are outside. This has been a good week to move them as we've had 3 days of soaking rains and then warm temperatures with mild evenings. The screens were put in the windows yesterday and stayed there all night. When I'm lying awake, waiting for sleep to overtake me, the sounds of the evenings take me back to the summer visits with my grandmother. She was a difficult woman to get along with but staying with her for a week in the summer was always a highlight.

Winning those two large containers sort of imperiled my desire to weed out my pots to just what I'll use because I ordered plants from a company who sent me a catalog this year. That box arrived a week ago on Wednesday.

They are called Select Seeds and one of their "hooks" is that they have heirlooms seeds as well as live plants for sale. I rather liked the idea of spending the money I would usually fork over at a catalog which would deliver. I'd not have to battle crowds for begonias or buy more than I had budgeted for. Because I was cutting way back, this seemed, to me, to be a better use of my time and my funds. I hadn't counted on two 5 gallon containers of plants.

Here's the box of plants.

The Select Seeds plants came in unique containers.

The whole thing is recyclable. I very much appreciated that. The plants were healthy looking even having been left in the box from Wednesday through Sunday, when I planted everything.

I pulled everything up close to the deck and started with the the hanging planters. I wasn't sure what I'd find in the big containers but, to my delight, the plants in them came out easily. The containers had several which draped over the side and I got a couple of sweet potato vines for good measure.

I realized that the dirt in the bottom of the planters was hard so I spent time breaking it up in the hopes that the plants develop a deeper root system. I need to remember to do that every year. Plants always look so droopy when you put them in the container where they are going to go. But after 3 days of rain and a bit of fertilizer, they have perked back up.

I like vines or flowers to trail down the sides of the planters. We'll see how this goes. Did you know that given the right amount of fertilizer and water, that decorative sweet potato vine will actually produce an edible tuber? It's yours if you can get it before the squirrels do.

Gradually, things came together. In the end, I only had to pull out 2 extra pots and I need to go back and get 3 more begonias as I underestimated the size of the pots for the front steps.

The plants I like so well, the ones with dark colored leaves, are lettuce. Once I pulled them from the pots to replant, it was clear what they were. It's getting late in the season for lettuce, but I could, if I wanted, sheer part of them back for a salad. That made me chuckle.

As I was finishing up the planting, the sky darkened and the rain began to fall. I moved all the pots from the railings to the deck floor to prevent them being tipped over by high winds. On Monday, I brought out the geraniums, removed all the dead leaves and bracts, fertilized and lightly watered them. They got drenched from Monday through Wednesday morning.

Another year and another batch of happy geraniums. I also scrubbed the birdbath clean. Lordy was that gross.

What's left now is to move the white geranium on the cat house to the pot where my ancient and spindly white geranium is. Next to the white geranium is a rose colored scented geranium. I'm going to add it to the pot of another of the ancient ones. The geraniums were the plants most affected, last year, by the ground squirrels. There was a lot of open space at the top of the geraniums so my hope is that packing the pots with plants will deter those rascals. I also checked my cayenne pepper stash and we're good for another year.

Finally, I added flowers to the pot by the deck stairs.

One thing I went with this year was upping the fragrance quotient of the deck garden. I know the bees can smell stuff, but I wanted to be able to smell things. So I invested in some plants that emit odors.

In the white pot is a datura. First of all, this is poisonous. Never, ever have it where chewing children or pets or adults, for that matter, would want to experiment with the leaves. That's why it's in the pot at the foot of the deck stairs. My girls don't chew on stuff on the deck. When I got them cat grass, they looked at it and wandered away. But it can't be planted in soil you intend to use for growing stuff. If I decide next year I want to put sweet potatoes in this planter, all the soil has to go.

I've had daturas before. They emit their odor at night when the trumpet-shaped flower, which is huge, by the way, opens. The ones I've had before were white or creamy white. This one is white, silver, bluish white and purple. These can be the size of small shrubs and we used to have some that were self-seeding. We'll see about this one. I added alyssum and a low growing primrose to the pot. They should keep the ground under the datura covered which will mean less watering. The primrose was one plant that looked a bit wilted when I pulled out it out of the box. I noticed last night that it has small flowers on it already.

The geranium is used to scent rose water and potpourri. You do have to actively crush the flower pedals to release the smell. There is a phlox, Midnight Candy, another scented plant. It's a bit different from the phlox I have in the front. The ones in the front aren't scent producers so I have high hopes for this plant.

I like nicotiana, Line Green, and the color of this plant caught my eye. This is another poisonous plant. I have it mixed in with shorter plants and the dark red snapdragons which were in the containers I won. This one blooms in the evening. To go with the nicotiana, I got a coreopsis, Little Penny. The photo shows the blooms to be the size of a penny, but there are plenty of them. I'll need to sheer the plant for a season of continual blooms but I thought the juxtaposition of color between the green and the coppery-red would be striking.

A trailing plant for the pots is the petunia, African sunset. It's the one you see blooming in the box. It's a lovely light coral color. I probably should have purchased more than one plant, but I'm giving this company a try first. Then next year, if the plants do well and look good, I can come back and get more than just one. The verbena I'm holding above is called "Twister Pink". This is another riot of color and I'm all about color on the deck. It's also a trailing plant and it's in the hanging planter.

Finally, for something completely different, I ordered three container strawberry plants. Who knows if this experiment will yield anything but having a handful of fresh strawberries on a Saturday morning in June was too good to resist.

I will move things around come the weekend, when I can spend time putting pots in places, standing back and saying, "Nope. That doesn't look right." I have to bring up at least one other deck chair. I was going to move the cat house to the basement, but with the possibility that it may be used, I won't. The whole desire is to make the deck an inviting space. We'll see how this year's deck garden works.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

You Pick Two

So, I went to Planter's Palette on Saturday, to pick up my free flowers, won by liking and sharing a post on Facebook. I don't have a lot of faith in those "like and share for a chance to win" posts, even though this one was from a business I know and support. I have to admit, when I saw my name, I had to look, look again and then a third time because I didn't really believe it was me. "I know that name. Wait..." I figured I'd stroll up and have a choice between a couple of preplanted containers that I could just plop onto the deck. I've been mentally arranging all my pots and what I want where. I'd been planning to go to PP anyway as I need begonias for the front pots and more potting soil for the ones I'm keeping. This worked out fine. 

Imagine my surprise when Diane told me I could have my choice of two (!!!!!) preplanted containers. These are designed to be broken apart and the flowers used to fill in or form your own containers at home. TWO of them! And look at my choices. There were at least 2 dozen on this display and I get two (!!!) free.

They are regularly priced at $25 each container.

These are huge; maybe 5 gallon pots. If you bought the plants separately contained in them, you'd be spending way more than the $25 price tag and I get two of them.

It took me a good 15 minutes, but I selected these two.

I really like that dark-leaved plant. No clue what it is, but I like the juxtaposition of the dark with the light.

I mowed the lawn and did a couple other things and didn't have the energy to break these up. I got my begonias, a couple of sweet potato vines and another white geranium. The one I've overwintered all these years is not doing well. I'll combine the two in the pot.

I've never been a big fan of the spiky stuff in containers. Designed to raise the visual height of the plantings, to me, those items seem to be more fluff than flowers. I'm not sure whether I'll save the ones I have in the pot I received or if those will be given away. I have to see how things fit. I did, however, fall in love with these.

With the sunlight shining on them, they just glowed. They are $6.00 each, but if I could have afforded it, I would have purchased one in every color. This is the kind of thing I'll happily put in a pot of flowers. Kitchy, yeah. I got a green and an orange one.

Something else I wish I could afford is one of these.

However, the littlest ones, like the one with the hands sort of over his eyes, was $50. One of the small ones would be so cute in amongst the flower pots on the deck. They are heavy. The little one weighs a good 5 pounds, but oh the cute. 

I was wandering about and found these statues.

I really like the piglet. I didn't pick one up to see how much it cost. After the $50 of the dragon, I decided I didn't want to be disappointed by finding out the pig was $40. 

So now comes the stuffing of the containers. I promised a cousin that she could have all my extra pots. That may come in fall. I'm really thrilled. What a wonderful way to start Saturday.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Geranium Joy

I needed to sweep up the deck yet again as the chipmunk has come back. He's riddled the pot which holds zinnias and killed a couple of the flowers which were in that pot. I'm going to get a few more flowers for under the zinnias and I covered the soil with so much cayenne, it's not brown dirt anymore. It was a fantastically beautiful morning so, after doing that, I just sat on the deck, wrote a letter and read book #9, or is it #8. I'm behind in my book reviews.

July is also the month that flowers tend to be at their peak of blooming. The geraniums are no different. As part of the cleaning up process, I deadheaded the spent blooms and removed old leaves. This was the set up before I cleaned.

It's lovely to walk past this riot of color as I go into the house.

This is the set up now that I've cleaned.

I still need to paint the deck, but I have no energy. The zinnias are tall to begin with but they were quite leggy due to lack of sun. I think they will be happier in the corner. You can see I really pared down some of the flower heads. I also turned everyone 90 degrees so they all wouldn't lean one direction toward the sun. The only flowers not leaning were the marigolds. It's a lovely arrangement and makes the deck quite pleasant. It's more than enough for me to maintain, too, in addition to the impatiens on the front steps.

Here are my geraniums. White.

Light pink.

Pink.

Dark Pink.

Salmon.

And red, which has orange in it when photographed in the sunshine.

The dark pink geranium I bought this year. It's in the pot with the salmon-colored one as that one is down to just a couple of stems. The rest have their own pots and are at least 5 years old, probably older. I bring them in every fall and put them in the back room where they have access to sunlight. I water them when I remember, which can be a good 3 weeks between waterings. I don't do anything else to them. In the spring, I cut them back once they have been outside for a week and we go another year. I used to have a striking purple ivy-leaved geranium but it really was an annual. It did not take to over wintering. I'd love a purple geranium, but I do have to watch how many I get. I only have a finite amount of space to overwinter them.

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

A Month Away, Photo 5

Spring makes one want to clean. I probably could live with the mounds of dust, as detrimental as it would be to my health, but there's something about the fresh start that we experience in spring that makes me want to clear the dust bunnies and cob webs and dirt in advent of throwing open the windows and letting the breezes flow through the house. (Sniff. Sniff. And the side effect are the "residuals" from the fights between the raccoons and the skunks. Um...yeah.)

It's also a time to really look at the overwintered geraniums.

They always produce flowers throughout the winter. I tend to leave them alone, other than a watering, all winter, knowing, when I put them outside, once they get acclimated to the outdoors, I'm going to prune them back.

The red one was especially prolific over the winter. There are a lot of flower bracts to remove once I put these out on the deck.

I remember hearing or reading that spring will be cooler than usual. I figure one more month and they all can go outside. The deck needs to be restained but that's not happening until early June. We're close, close to warm weather and leaving the remnants of a brutal winter behind.

Beverage:  Berry seltzer

Deb

A Visit From A Friend, Sort Of

I was cleaning up the kitchen on Sunday and found this little guy.

This is the Chinese lady bug. They were imported some years ago to supplement the American lady bugs we have because we didn't have enough to eat aphids and other nasty pests on our crops. Lacking natural predators in the US, the Chinese lady bug populations have exploded, while American lady bugs have remained fairly stable. I couldn't find any articles online detailing whether the influx of Chinese lady bugs has helped with the aphid problem.

These little guys have more black spots and a more orange back. They are also better acclimatized to colder weather so you'll see them active long after American lady bugs have gone into crevasses to overwinter. This version also bites. That gives lady bugs, in general, a bad name. The red ones, the American lady bug, does not bite. It's kind of fun to have one crawling across your hand in the summer.

Because of the benefits of having lady bugs in your garden, they are believed to be lucky and to kill one is akin to breaking a mirror. If you hold one and make a wish, whichever direction it flies indicates which direction your wish will come from. Finding a lady bug inside during the winter, when the bugs are supposed to be hibernating, was considered a 'good omen'. Nowadays, we know that just means the inside of your house is toasty warm and the insect thinks it's spring. Still, a 'good omen' is something we can all use.

Rather than kill the bug, I deposited it on the geranium in the front window. There probably aren't aphids on the plant, but perhaps it will overwinter. I figure it can't hurt. 

Beverage:  Darjeeling tea

Deb

The First Freeze

The birdbath has a layer of ice this morning.

So did the Jeep.

It took a bit to find the head of a scraper I had saved when the handle broke off. I have an intact scraper which I found when I got to work. It was on the floor under the driver's seat. It's now in the glove box where I will find it.

Winter is now coming. It's been a rough month for my joints. I don't remember if I was this stiff last year. I love fall even if it tacks another 15 minutes onto my getting going in the morning.

Because of the forecast, I brought the geraniums in last night. It's been in the 40's at night and not a whole lot warmer during the day. I guess this coming weekend is the deck clearing one.

It's been a good growing year, but I am ready to put everything away and hunker down with soup and tea and stew and hot cocoa.

Step one is making sure the places in the house are ready for the geraniums. Step two is removing all the dead leaves and flower bracts from the plants. Step three is placing them inside. Step four is giving them a good drink of water if they need it. We got rain overnight on Sunday so not all the geraniums needed water.

The heat is on in the house now so, while the back door is open as I stood to the right deadheading the geraniums and removing leaves, I tapped the door closed when I went inside with the plant. That lead to an unintended consequence.

Oops. The door's not closed. If she knew to put her front paws on it and push, it would pop right open, but neither cat has exhibited that behavior. Instead she stood outside meowing pitifully until I opened the door. I just never turned around to see if they had come outside. It was chilly and I figured they would stay inside. I did this to Mija too, unfortunately.

But, the geraniums are inside. I have the four in the back room.

The giant pink one on the left will need to be pruned back in a month or so. It's got a couple of buds on it so I'll let those blossom and then prune it. I repotted all of these in May and their lush color and the height of the pink one are testimony to good soil.

I put one in the living room.

There will be some initial leaf drop as they went from an air temperature hovering around 55 to an air temperature of 70, but, once they get used to being inside, I'll have my geraniums over the winter. Occasional flowers? What's not to like about that?

Beverage:  Yorkshire Gold Tea

Deb

If the Water Runs Black, Day 1

It took two days to get everything planted. This was, clearly, an eyes bigger than stamina situation. I managed to get one of the flats planted but I just grew too tired to finish.

This is the pot at the southwest corner of the deck. This is the one where the dianthus, much to my surprise, overwintered. I added one of the sweet potato vines which will spill over the side during the course of the summer, and 3 dark purple alyssum plants. The dianthus is red so this will be a nice contrast of colors.

Begonias were potted. I remembered buying these matching containers specifically for the front steps. Matching! Usually, nothing matches, not that I worry about that at all. An assortment of different pots adds interest, but I thought, years ago, having them all match on the front steps would look better.

When I was at mom's in May, she mentioned an article in the paper about impatiens having a blight this year. The article said these flowers, heavily used in shady spots, would be in short supply as the main growers of impatiens had been hard hit. "Begonias," I said to mom. "Just go to begonias this year. There isn't the wide variety of color as there are in impatiens, but they work just as well in shady areas."

Aren't they nice?

The front steps get sunshine in the morning and that's it. My problem will be remembering to water these throughout the summer. (This weekend's task is to repaint the top of the front steps, all of it. That should use up the rest of the paint leftover from this project.)

All the geraniums were repotted in fresh soil.

One of the things I bought in the winter was a large bag of container potting soil. Supposedly formulated specifically for containers, we'll see how it compares to the pots that have the last of the Miracle Gro potting soil in them. I put all the geraniums in the container soil, removed the old leaves, cut them back a bit and they are ready for summer on the deck. I got a new geranium.

This is called "Melody", something I didn't realize until I was repotting it. It has multi-pink flowers. I'm still thinking of going to get one of those dark purple pink geraniums, too. I'm all out of these green pots so, gasp, I'd have to use a different one.

My poor spindly peppers were potted with the hardy, robust peppers I purchased. The orange pepper just isn't going to make it. Overnight, last night, we got heavy rains and this morning, all I could see was this sad, thin plant tipped over in the pot. The other peppers, the chocolate and the lilac (turns red when ripe) were fine and seemed to have adapted very well to being outside and in sunshine. I really like orange peppers so I'm rather sad about the loss of that plant. If I do some running around this weekend, perhaps I can swing by another nursery to see if they have orange peppers and purple geraniums.

At the end of the day, this is what was left. I decided to turn the hanging pots to the inside this year. Usually, I put them on the opposite side, but then I don't see them when I'm sitting on the deck.

I came inside and washed up. The water ran black from the dirt of potting soil. That's a good feeling. You know you've accomplished something when you're washing your elbows. I sat down to rest before starting the next project, dishes. The next thing I knew, it was 2 hours later and I had Mija in my lap and Pilchard sleeping next to me. Flowers. Cats. Life is good.

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb