My favorite cuttings are of mint and lavender, kept in the window above the kitchen sink.

This  reminds me of my grandmother’s practice of pulling up the geraniums, cutting them back, shaking off the dirt from the roots, putting a brown bag over the roots, and letting them hang from a pipe or railing in a basement or garage during the winter.  She always replanted them in small pots and watered them beginning in March, and by May she had spectacular plants.  Grandma always found that most rebloomed in the spring.  I tried this one year, but only about half of the geraniums bloomed.

So we are giving the garage a try for spring ’10, though one of the links below suggests also putting bags over them to block the light for most of the winter. Thanks Lynn!

• Geranium winter storage tips @ Veseys Information for Gardeners
• Overwintering geraniums @ About.com

Check out this site at the University of Vermont extension which has plenty of information on cuttings.

I’ve noticed that the impatiens have wilted, but the stalks themselves still seem hardy.  The geraniums seem to be doing fine.  I am told that marigolds can also be rooted.

I cannot wait to start seeds.

As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, we had a big construction project at our house, and number two or three on the list was a greenhouse type of corner.  That did not happen because there were so many much more necessary projects.  So, for the last several years, I’ve given up bringing in plants because our house, while remodeled, is not much bigger than it was to start with.  The past two years I’ve looked around for one of those greenhouse, well-lighted shelves that I’ve seen in catalogs, but they cost more than $400, and that is for the smallest size. Not an amount I am willing to spend right now. However I am so eager to try to root cuttings, find a place for a few plants, and perhaps grow a few herbs from seed, especially basil.  So after thinking about it for a while, I tried to get creative.

A few weeks ago my husband and I eyeballed the unused large claw-foot tub that is in an old and mostly beat up bathroom in our basement.   We began to think about putting or building a shelf to stand in the tub, and then installing plant lights above on the joists (the walls and ceiling are mostly unfinished).

So last weekend we got to work.  We found in the garage an old metal shelf with four levels, cleaned it up, and  lined each shelf with the contact shelf paper that is sticky but not glued on.  We put a piece of plywood in the tub, and set the shelf on the plywood.  At Merrifield Gardens, our wonderful plant, garden, greenery, flower, and Christmas store,  we purchased two plant lights, with huge clips.  These clips easily attach to the joists so they can be moved as well as aimed in different directions.  We finished up the job by rounding up two old lamp timers, setting the lights to go on and off at specific times of the day.  Voila!  A plant shelf for the winter sequestered off in a small room in the basement that has one small window, a place for watering and gardening materials, and most importantly, a sink.  The top three shelves are well lit and will easily hold cuttings and small plants.

I believe we spent under $60, including the lights and the shelf paper, and maybe even including gas.  Pretty cool.

That was last weekend.  In my next post I’ll describe what I did this morning with cuttings of geraniums and impatiens.

Also, they are already so big that I’ll need to divide them in the spring.  I may try to get a bunch of them potted and ready for September – November on the front porch.

A recent good article on mums from the News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio (near Cleveland).  http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/09/20/life/nh1440733.txt

At the very least I have four large ferns, three spider plants that were tiny at the beginning of the summer, a potted rosemary plant, some geraniums, three hibiscus plants, and a few other herbs.  Where will they all go??

Rudbekia seems to match it and keep it out.  Sedum also seems to go root for root with it.  Hostas also keep it at bay most of the time.  But many annuals and even perennials  seem to barely get started before the weed cuts them off.  This is especially difficult when I can only be at my New York garden every few weeks, so the bishop’s week takes over in my absence.

HELP!  If you have any ideas about this plant — sometimes sold as a ground cover, but which is insidious — let me know what you do.  When I weed, I never let Bishop’s Weed touch the ground.  It goes right into a plastic bag to be taken far away from my house by the trash collectors.  This weed would be a perfect cover for trash dumps.

My all time favorite roadside flowers are at the Maryland rest stop on Rt 15 near Edinburg, just south of the Pennsylvania border.  The flowers flow around the back of the stop, adding a focal point to a glorious view that stretches into a valley and toward the Catoctin Mountains.

Another great place to observe flowers along a highway is the strip of Rt 81 between Strasburg, VA and Stanton.

Has anyone else noticed these roadside gardens?

U.S. Mint Image

Yesterday I made three bouquets of flowers and herbs from the yard.  I put a couple of tablespoons of Sprite in all three.  In two of them I put a penny.  Today I noticed that the jar without the penny had clouded up.  By the end of the day I could not stand it so when I was changing the water I added a penny to that one, too.  We’ll see what happens tomorrow. I suppose this has something to do with the copper in the penny?