Thanks for the complements on the Mme Plantier/Geranium combo. Actually, when I did it, I wasn't even thinking about combos. I was thinking this is a boring rose 11 months of the year -- what can I put here that will be interesting the rest of the time? Geraniums bloom year around here, so that was the plan. Mme. Plantier only does that blooming thing for one month in June, and I actually put the rose there to hide the shed -- which it does very well. So most of the time, the rose is just providing a ladder for the geranium to hide the shed. But that picture was three years ago, and those plants still are co-existing there just fine with very little care of any kind. Mme. Plantier doesn't even require spraying for mildew which makes it a rarity here. And Debbie, with the morning glories, my advice is to take the whole yard out -- herbicide -- and then start over. The problem at my mother's house is she wants to save the roses -- but it would have been SO much easier to blast the whole thing and then replant the roses. And wear gloves. Morning glory sap is a strong allergen through skin. (stuff I learnt the hard way). This post was edited by kstrong on Thu, Apr 11, 13 at 10:27

Mindy - annual geraniums (annual for us, that is) don't make tubers, they have thick, fleshy roots. What I do is dig them after they've been frosted lightly a couple times (they're usually still green), shake off whatever loose soil shakes off easily, and throw them in big paper bags (I usually use lawn bags, but brown grocery bags work fine, too). I fold the top of the bag over, and take them into the crawl space, put against the coldest wall. I don't cut anything back at this point, just throw the plants in the bags - roots, top growth, clingy soil, all of it. Come early March or so, I take them out of storage, trim the top growth back to about 2" or so (depending), pot up using fresh potting soil, water, place on the light cart. They sprout pretty fast, and often growth will have started while still in storage. When they start to fill out a bit, I start fertlizing, and I take them out on the patio during the day to get the sunlight they need, bring them in at night. Plant out at planting time, sometime in May. I've been doing this for years, and it works beautifully - my geraniums are getting HUGE, they just get bigger and better every year :0) DH laughed at me one year when he saw me potting them up - he called them the "mummy plants". He thought no way would they grow. So now when we happen to discuss geraniums we refer to them as the mummy plants LOL! My sister told me my grandmother used to hang hers upside down in the cellar, but I've not tried that - don't have a root cellar, and don't really want plants hanging from the rafters downstairs in the laundry room...

I just germinated a packet of Burpee Summer Showers mix with a 100% success rate. I do all of my geranium germination in damp paper towels, stacked in a sealed container. I put one variety in each towel labeled with a permanent marker, and stack them all in a single container. When I check each day for sprouting I also rearrange the stack of towels. This year, out of approximately 150 seeds of various varieties I've got 121 now in soil, and only 12-16 seeds left in the container which have until Sunday to sprout. Try that and see if you get better results; just be sure not to use too much water.

Lynne, I purchased some Ivy Geraniums from Ohio and planted them in cocconet matt (don't know what they're actually called) hanging baskets in South Georgia. It gets darn hot and humid here starting in March through October. They did great considering the high humidity and heat here. I was surprised that they bloomed all summer and are still blooming. As you would know, they are much happier when the temperatures go down. I fertilized with the slow release about three times and watered them early in the morning--almost every day. Now my watering is less frequent. I spray my plants with Neem Oil on a regular basis, as fungus and insects are a problem here. I will be repotting them soon and have in mind to use something in the pots to help keep the soil cooler. I think that will help. I put them on stands that I wheel into the garage to protect from the frost, and wheel them out every morning. My pelagonians did very well except the little catapillar guys drove me crazy. I ended up putting them all in pots with new soil mix. Pat