yes I grow them inground AND pots.I find the lovely ivy geraniums do quite well as hanging plants.One in a coir and wire hanger and several in conrete urns and look alikes. I also have HUGE orange ones in blue glazed pots I must say that I think the variety has alot to do with how they look and also you must remember that EPCOT changes their plants as soon as they begin to look poorly.If you notice the impatience had holes where the plants wee to be replaced.The little movie inside gave a talk on it. I know some people do not do well with geraniums in the summer but I have had the same ones for years. I bought them at Rock City Nursery who starts their own in greenhouses and I must say the varieties are great. I do not feel they need all that much water and in fact some get totally forgotten and still hang in there.

Any kind of zonal geranium can work - YOU are the one who creates the tall, straight stems :-) The attached link should help you get started. It is not a difficult project at all.

I often will Google the particular variety that I'm interested in to see how it has performed and ranked after several years of trial evaluation. Yes, the testing has been done in some far off place, though at least it gives some good indication as to what might be expected from a particular variety and how it compares to others. I used to have a lot of geraniums and really should get more into them again!

They are not proliferations but branches. They come from a leaf node on the branch although I've never seen 2 coming out in one place. I don't know about them sapping the plants energy but it does not hurt to remove them and may help. I bring some Geraniums inside every fall and let them grow under lights until spring. Then take cuttings. I plant all cuttings and mother plants outside after removing them from the pots they grew in and planting them in the ground or other pots. Your plant is pretty bushy and it looks like it overfills the pot and is not as dark green as those small ones nearby. If that's the same pot it grew in last summer the soil may be depleted and it may be pot bound. Maybe that's the reason your plant stopped blooming. I'd move it to a larger pot with fresh soil or do it when you move it outside