It hasn't been an easy growing year, with very hot, dry spells followed by regular downpours, but the pelargoniums have been in flower since spring and are still going strong.
Autumn is the ideal time to evaluate our successes and failures in the garden. What worked well this year? What didn't? On my veg plot, though, this process is pretty much continual. Photographers from Gardeners' World magazine are always turning up record my progress, and I need to keep detailed notes to help me write about the edible crops I grow.
Anybody peeking through my kitchen window recently would have seen me hunched over the bathroom scales, measuring the cropping weights of freshly harvested potatoes, and sorting them into bags. But my approach to ornamental crops is much more random and haphazard: I just notice what has done well and what has been disappointing.
This year, the pelargoniums growing in containers near our front steps have been a real triumph. It hasn't been an easy growing year, with very hot, dry spells followed by regular downpours, but the pelargoniums have been in flower since spring and are still going strong.
One amazingly vigorous variety, 'Calliope Dark Red', has intensely rich, deep red flowers that almost glow. I'd recommend it to anyone. (The image above, by the way, is the regal pelargonium cultivar 'Lord Bute', not 'Calliope Dark Red'.) I want the pot to remain in its prominent position for as long as possible, but the night time temperatures have plummeted recently. If I want this gorgeous plant to survive, I'll have to move it to the greenhouse soon. In the meantime, perhaps I'll just drag the pot a little closer to the house and keep a few metres of horticultural fleece to hand. But dare I risk it?
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