Red Geranium

I took cuttings last fall of four geranium plants (at least three different kinds) and stashed them in the garage. All four survived, but the coloration of each now is very different. I crammed all four of them and some petunias into a big pot. The geranium at back left is almost chocolate brown, back center is dark green, and back right is very red. The geranium at left middle is a normal green.

Internet research indicates geraniums turn red from stress, which can include temperatures below 55 degrees. I heated the garage to between 50 and 55 all winter. Obviously not all varieties handle a chill the same.

The other occupants of the pot are descendents of petunias from last year's pot. The two with purple-veined blooms are cuttings, in other words clones. The red bloom at lower right is from a volunteer petunia that grew from seed. The only petunias I had around last year were the purple-veined ones, so I concluded that the color does not breed true. The plants hidden in the center among the geraniums and hanging over the front also are volunteer petunias, so we will see what color(s) their blooms are.

To the left of the big pot is the original petunia pot, which isn't looking great for some reason. It hasn't bounced back from its last haircut at the end of January. I predicted back then that is would need another haircut by now. Current working theory is alkaline water. It might be time to refresh the soil and turn that pot over to one of the two large clones, not pictured.

You always hear about how invasive mint is. I had one mint pot that was invaded by a volunteer petunia. I decided to dispose of that particular mint and also decided I could not save the volunteer due to the possiblity of fragments of mint roots mixed in with the petunia roots and taking over a pot like this. There is another volunteer petunia in a 'Velveteen Aromatic'™ pot. It has a couple of blooms developing.

April 17: I transplanted the last-mentioned volunteer to the big pot. This image shows three petunias with common ancestry and blooms of four different colors. The clone at left has two blooms, with one more purple and the other more blue. In the middle is the newest transplant with the red-veined pink bloom. At right is a volunteer with a red bloom. The blooms differ in color but they all have veining. At the lower edge of the frame is another volunteer, and it looks like the bloom color will be similar to the pink one.