I never really appreciated geraniums when I was growing up in California. We had hedgerows of 'em everywhere so I took them for granted, I guess.
Then I moved to Oregon...
Gardeners here prize their summer blooms, take cuttings in the fall and put them on the kitchen windowsill to await late spring when they can go outside once again. I'm lucky enough to have a small greenhouse and I keep a couple of plants to winter over. Turns out they really like the mild climate in the greenhouse when the nights stay at about 50 degrees (thanks to a heater) and the days may get as warm as 70 inside thanks to solar gain. A perfect climate for them! I do prune them back due to lack of space but now they are blooming away providing a focal point surrounded by succulents.
Got pots? Proof positive that I'll have to empty out a few more pots to have any space for other plants...the succulents are SUCCING UP all the shelf space!
I did manage to squeeze in one geranium at the back but I really need to downsize the succulent collection. I knew this but I kept hoping that they'd all fit. Well, not so much. By the end of October we'll be setting the heater (lower left corner) on about 52 degrees to keep everything happy.
Sonia, the garden angel is squeezed into the opposite corner where she'll be nice and cozy for winter.
During the summer months, I leave the greenhouse door open. Otherwise the temps can get well in excess of 120 degrees, even with the shade cloth covering on the roof. So it gives the spiders ample time to set up housekeeping. They love it in there! But it's nothing a shop vac can't cure...
Since the weather has started to "turn" to fall temps, I got in there (I leave the shop vac on the outside as there isn't room for both of us inside) and suck up the bugs. Did I mention that there are always a few crickets as well? Then I get out my window washing gear, make up some ammonia solution and have at the polycarbonate panels, inside and outside. The rivers of mud runoff on the outside make me think that this should let more light in this winter. Oye.
I also wash down the bare cedar slats on the upper shelves and this year I used some of my favorite stain (Storm in "wet sand" color) to paint the lower cedar planks and the cedar baseboard.
That's the easy part...Stay tuned for shoe-horning in of way too many succulents that I just had to have, knowing they couldn't winter over in our climate zone. Sinners repent! will be my future lament...
