Oh, I also bought another "Plum Pudding" coral bells (this one does well for me), and three decent-sized annual geraniums in the hot pink color I use for the front of the house at clearance prices - I overwinter geraniums so this was a fair deal for me.

Plus a pumpkin for the front porch (since I can't swipe any from the neighbor's trash piles until after Halloween LOL)

Good shopping day :0)

I soooooo wanted to plant some tulips this year and spent hours going through all of the catalogs I received. Didn't order any though. It's waste of time, money and effort because of those darling, little furry-tailed monsters. You know who or what I'm talking about I'm sure. Every year it's the same thing. The few tulips I have are beheaded the moment they open. I just can't go through that frustration anymore.

Don't even suggest possible solutions. I've tried everything. Nothing works. Hope you enjoy yours though.

Kevin

Kevin, chipmunks? OMG. I am overrun with them this year. I wonder if my tulips are going to be on the chopping block.

mx, that sounds like a great assortment! I have been going a little bulb crazy this year too. :) I got some grape hyacinths in a trade that I'm very excited about. I also ordered some more daffodils, and bought a bag at Home Depot the other day (Ice King, like a double Ice Follies).

And this year I am trying Allium for the first time. Purple Sensation. If anyone has any advice about where to plant it, I'd love to hear. I'm wondering if the foilage is going to look yucky and if I need to "hide it" amongst other perennials. Tentative plan was to plant it around the base of a Hydrangea which will be down then, but I'm wondering if this will be too exposed if the foilage is going to look bad.

mx, would you please give me some advice about overwintering geraniums? I can't believe you posted this, because just yesterday I couldn't resist a lemon-scented geranium on the annual clearance rack for a dollar. I have not overwintered anything, ever. Do I need to keep it inside, or in the garage? And how often should I water? Anything you can tell me will be more than I know. :) Thank you!

Connie, I overwintered a geranium I got for a gift from a friend last summer by just treating it as a houseplant. I put it in my sunniest window and watered when dry (I even got a bloom in December!). It got to be quite scraggly by the time spring rolled around, so I gave it a wee haircut and set it outside in a bigger pot and fresh soil, first in shade, then the sun. It's bigger and more beautiful this year and I plan to overwinter it again this year. Except, now it's too big for the window, so I'll probably have to get a grow light, which is ok, I have other plants I want to keep over the winter too.

I was going to go bulb crazy this year, but a certain garage building project put that to a halt. Maybe next fall. However, after the new garage is built, I'll have a new, larger sunny border to plant all sorts of new things, so now I have the seed crazies and plan to winter sow a lot of seeds this winter to fill up that 10' x 40' space with native plants (with a few non-natives) to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, and the north side of the building for my hostas.

Karen

Connie: RE: Overwintering geraniums

You don't need to go through the hassle (and space) of treating as houseplants - all you need to do is get them dormant and keep them dormant until spring. My grandmother used to hang them upside down from the rafters in the basement to dry, but since that's not practical for me, I use the paper bag trick.

After a couple *light* frosts (not a killing frost!!!) I dig them up, shake off the excess dirt as much as I can, and throw them into those big brown paper lawn bags. I fold over the top of the bag and put them in the crawl space over the winter. Don't need any packing material, and I **do not trim back at this time**, I just put them in the bags and leave them be in the dark (relatively cool) crawl space.

Come around March or so, I drag them out and trim way back (DH refers to them as the mummy plants during this stage LOL!), cutting off any stems that appear dead. Actually, most of the time the plants are already sprouting new growth, but even if they aren't it's very easy to tell if anything is dead because when you trim back you'll see the stems are green and moist inside. I then pot up in well-moistened potting medium, place in a light place (next to the seed starting cart works for me) and let them start growing. I do not fertilize until new growth is under way.

When the days get warm enough, I put onto the patio in the sun - nothing like that warm direct spring sunshine to encourage lush, healthy growth! Obviously, I bring them in at night until the danger of frost is past.

That's all there is to it. It's really easy, saves a lot of $$$, and I have some *huge* geraniums that I've had going for years now - they just get bigger and better every year.

:0)

Huh, learn something new everyday! ;)

Karen

Thanks to both of you for great instructions! :D The paper bag method sounds very interesting and easy. So, do you think our garage would be cool enough to keep them dormant?