bits and bobs: A random assortment of things; small remaining pieces and things
The fall foliage this year is incredible. Everyday it just keeps getting better and better. It’s seriously like something out of a Hallmark movie. Or Country Living Magazine. It’s absolutely spectacular.
I feel like such a tourist wandering around taking pictures of the trees in other people’s yards.
I spotted this funny portrait on salvaged wood yesterday on Etsy and it made me smile. It’s by BoardTalkStudio. I can’t stop thinking about it.
I want to get it, but it totally doesn’t go with anything in my house. But it’s funny. I look at it and it just cracks me up. It’s like looking in a mirror in a way. Does that even make sense?
Puggle Pickety Bits. {Try saying that five times fast.}
Does Grandma have this phone in her basement? If so, tell her they’re going for $65 at the antique stores.
My new favorite hand soap. It came in a 4-pack from Costco. I know what sea salt smells like {pretty much nothing} so I’m guessing it’s the verbena smell that I’m loving.
Have you ever grown verbena before? Is it easy to grow?
And last but not least, geraniums. Have you ever tried overwintering geraniums? Have you been successful at it? Do the flowers come back just as healthy and vibrant as the summer before?
I’m thinking about giving it a try this winter. Do you have any tips for me? If so I’d love to hear them.
That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for today.
Have a good one,
~Mavis
Dawn says
They are really easy to overwinter. Cut them back a bit, water them here and there. They might get a little leggy over the winter if they don’t get a lot of sun, but in the spring you give them another pruning and harden them off. With some fertilizer and sunshine, they’re off to the races again. I’d like to try rooting a new one from a slip. I’ve heard that isn’t hard, but I’ve never done it.
Mavis Butterfield says
I was thinking I should keep them in a sunny window in the barn. Do you keep yours in the house? Barn? Outside?
Katelyn says
My college roommate and I had GIANT indoor geraniums in our dorm room. If we can do it, I feel extremely confident that you can, too! LOL
Dawn says
I bring mine in and keep them in a back bedroom–I don’t have good light and they get kind of gangly–not very pretty by the end of the winter! If your barn stays above freezing I think they would do fine there, especially with a sunny window!
Lana says
I just put what I prune off in the Spring into new pots of dirt and water. At least 80 percent of mine root.
Jamie says
Lemon verbena is very easy to grow and propagates well. My plant is in less than stellar conditions this year (part sun, neglected watering, zone 8, mid-Atlantic) and is already 2.5 feet tall and wide. I use the leaves fresh and dried in teas.
Alice says
I overwinter my geranium in the house in a bedroom on a bay window with a grow light over top. I have an aloe plant there and a bush lily. This will be my third year with the geranium and it gives me flowers all year long. Winter inside summer outside.
Diane says
How do you get rid of all the little gnats and such that seem to live in potted soil? That’s why I hate to bring anything inside.
Jeanie H says
Either Mosquito Bits or yellow gnat traps. Both available on Amazon.
Shari Harniss says
Get the portrait.
Take it from me, you will not regret making your day a bit brighter, or bringing a smile to your face, or just plain loving the way it makes you feel.
If and when you tire of it, I know that you will have that one person who enjoys it like you do, and you brighten their lives by gifting it to them.
It will not be a wasteful purchase.
Let us know what you decide.
Tracey says
AGREE! A bit of whimsy gives a home character.
Donna Wade says
I’m so glad you have great fall colors! Where I live in MO, it’s been so dry that most of the leaves are just drying up and dropping. I’ve overwintered geraniums before, but I dig them up, and place them upside down in a large paper bag and leave the bag in cool dry place (in my case, my little laundry area). I learned that from an article I read and didn’t realize I could just pot them up and bring them indoors. It works though!
Honeybee says
Donna- Since my pots were built into my deck railing I have done the same paper bag trick. Interestingly the next year all the white and all the pink geraniums came back red.
Donna Wade says
Huh! That’s interesting!!
Meg C says
I live in Northeast Ohio – I overwinter my geraniums in a basement window. I had one geranium plant for over 10years! I did die this winter, though. But 10years was a great run! I mostly neglect my geraniums – water occasionally but ignore them otherwise. Then, after the frost warnings are past, I put them out & they are happy. I do sometimes have to trim them down because they can get a bit “leggy” as previous posters shared.
Also, I agree with the person who said you should get the piece of art. I still regret not buying a piece of art I saw when I was 20 and I’m 40+ now. 🙂
Christy says
I overwintered a geranium by putting it in a smaller pot (in a large planter outside during summer) and kept it with my other houseplants. It did well that winter and summer I planted it back outside but that fall, it was too big for indoors and it didn’t like the pruning I gave it. I at least got 2 years out of 1 plant.
My grandmother used to overwinter dozens of geraniums in a spare bedroom, watered occasionally.
Sue in SoCal says
I found verbena to be a really easy plant to grow and I’m no gardener. Last time I had any we also had a desert tortoise who roamed the back yard. He loved it. Tasty! He always had tiny red flower petals on his lips. Now that we don’t have him anymore I’ll have to grow it again.
Meli says
Buy the art and put it in the room with all your hooking fabrics and ornaments, enjoy it when you are cutting fabric and packaging Etsy items.
debbie in alaska says
Buy and put the portrait in the art studio above the garage. It will make you smile every time you look at it.
J in OH-IO says
That artwork is great – so fun and I love the sayings! I agree with all those that said to buy the portrait- it brings joy and will make you smile! Just get it!!! It’s a win win- supporting an artist and getting joy from it!!!
Richelle says
I had the same thought. If it speaks to you, it belongs.
Patti says
My mother used to overwinter our geraniums in the basement. I don’t think she did much to them except put them in a container on the cement floor (but I am not a gardener so who knows?). They went in a brick garden box around our screened porch every summer.
Terry Green says
Will your bills get paid and ya’ll eat if you buy the art? There’s your answer. Buy it and enjoy. Call it a reward for planting all your fall bulbs….
Pam says
Yes you can! I’m not going to read all the other comments so maybe someone has said this but…my grandmothers beautiful geraniums were only from over wintering. She had the bare stocks hanging in her basement on a wire that ran down the steps. Like a little clothesline I think she said she’d hammer them a little on the root end and plant them in the spring. A favorite memory of mine is watering them in the summer and pinching back the tops to make her happy
Cathy says
I take my geraniums right out of the soil (take off as much soil as possible)cut them back pretty hard and put them in paper bags.
I keep them in a cool dark closet in a spare room. March I pot them up and just when they are really getting going I put them outside in pots or the ground. I have done it for 4 years now and they get bigger and better each year.
Diane says
So you don’t have to take them out and miss them or give them any moisture at all during the winter?
Jeri says
I’m curious what is in the center of the Puggle Pickety Bits.
Mavis Butterfield says
Cheese, almond and the tinest bit of salami.
Cecile says
Definitely grab yourself a lemon or lime verbena plant for your hard, preferably planted where you will walk past it and graze it. The scent is devine! I had mine on the walk way to our back yard which also was by our daughter’s bedroom window. She would often comment about her room smelling like lemon soap! Super easy to look after, to be honest I didn’t do anything to mine once it went in the ground! My neighbour use to take clippings from it (her yard was 3″ higher than ours) at the top and put it in ice tea! As for geraniums, I’ve never been able to get them to winter, they always rot in the garage. Last year I had some coral coloured ones and thought I’d put them in the heavy paper bag and put them in a cooler that was slightly propped open. They still rotted! I’d say buy the portrait and put it in your work space!
Cecile says
3 feet higher!! Jeeze, proof reading is an art! lol
Rhonda R. Relyea says
I have always over wintered geraniums since my 44 and 49 yo daughters were tiny. I keep them in a south window and they flower all winter long. I have one that is as old as my girls are.