Hello

In the same way that some are technophobic I have lived all my life as a
plantphobic. For some reason I've never observed or remembered what even
the most common plants are around me.

However I am in the process of remedying this.

I have been doing a lot of gardening this spring which consists of weeding,
fortunately I am able to tell the weeds from the actual introduced plants
in the garden.

Anyway onto the questions I wish to ask.

I recently left a job (we are getting there honest) and as a leaving
present one of the people I worked with gave me a plant, or rather, plants.
I think she might have got them out of her garden and potted them herself.
It's a lovely present.

The other people in the office immediately recognised these plants. They
said, "oh, that is a... " however I was about to make my leaving speech so
remembering what they had said was not possible.

I'd be interested to know what they are?

It looks like several plants are in one pot.

In the following three pictures I rotate the pot each time:

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants001.jpg

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants002.jpg

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants003.jpg

As well as identifying them I'd like to know what to do with them. You
might just say, well, water them, but unfortunately although I think they
are lovely I'm not very keen on plants in the house. I do like them in the
garden and the person that gave them to me said that I would be able to
plant them in the garden.

Would it be okay to take them out separate them and put them in the garden
somewhere?

Remember you are dealing with someone who really knows very little about
these things

Thank you.
--
Patrick - Hove, UK
If you wish email me from my web-site: http://www.patrickjames.me.uk
Inventory service in Sussex: http://www.inventoryworks.co.uk

"patrick j" wrote in message
al.Net...
Hello

In the same way that some are technophobic I have lived all my life as a
plantphobic. For some reason I've never observed or remembered what even
the most common plants are around me.

However I am in the process of remedying this.

I have been doing a lot of gardening this spring which consists of
weeding,
fortunately I am able to tell the weeds from the actual introduced plants
in the garden.

Anyway onto the questions I wish to ask.

I recently left a job (we are getting there honest) and as a leaving
present one of the people I worked with gave me a plant, or rather,
plants.
I think she might have got them out of her garden and potted them herself.
It's a lovely present.

The other people in the office immediately recognised these plants. They
said, "oh, that is a... " however I was about to make my leaving speech so
remembering what they had said was not possible.

I'd be interested to know what they are?

It looks like several plants are in one pot.

In the following three pictures I rotate the pot each time:

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants001.jpg

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants002.jpg

http://www.patrickjames.me.uk/images/plants003.jpg

As well as identifying them I'd like to know what to do with them. You
might just say, well, water them, but unfortunately although I think they
are lovely I'm not very keen on plants in the house. I do like them in the
garden and the person that gave them to me said that I would be able to
plant them in the garden.

Would it be okay to take them out separate them and put them in the garden
somewhere?

Remember you are dealing with someone who really knows very little about
these things

Thank you.
--
Patrick - Hove, UK
If you wish email me from my web-site: http://www.patrickjames.me.uk
Inventory service in Sussex: http://www.inventoryworks.co.uk

I think you have a zonal type Pelargonium and two types of Begonia, I was
about to say keep them in as they are not hardy when I noticed the word Hove
in your sig, it my well be if you are close to the sea you get very little
frost in which case base of a nice sunny wall would do.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

Charlie Pridham writes

I think you have a zonal type Pelargonium and two types of Begonia, I was
about to say keep them in as they are not hardy when I noticed the word Hove
in your sig, it my well be if you are close to the sea you get very little
frost in which case base of a nice sunny wall would do.

The one with the big zoned leaves is the pelargonium, the begonias have
the smaller fleshier leaves.

Getting them out of that crowded pot into separate pots or into the
garden would be a good idea. Empty them out of the pot, and gently shake
and tease them apart, trying not to damage the roots too much. Then, if
in the garden, dig a hole bigger and deeper than the root mass, hold the
plant with the divide between roots and stem level with the top of the
soil, and sprinkle soil gently in and around the roots until you have
filled the hole, firming it down every now and then. Doubt that you'll
need to water it given the weather we've been having recently, but newly
planted plants need to be kept moist until they've had time to get their
roots down.

Both begonia and pelargonium would like somewhere sunny.

Over most of the country, neither are hardy, so come the autumn you
might want to dig them up and bring them indoors for the winter.

Alternatively, take cuttings - for the pelargonium: Pick a few,
preferably non-flowering, stems about 4-6inches long, in about August.
Take off all leaves except for a couple at the top. Fill a pot with soil
or moist potting compost (not the best medium, but works for me), and
push the cuttings into the pot until 2/3 or 3/4 of the length is in the
soil, give it a bit more water and put the whole pot into a plastic bag
and tie the top. After a few weeks, you can start looking at the pot
every couple of weeks or so - take away any cuttings which have rotted,
but you should eventually see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot.
Once you've got to this stage, you can gradually remove the bag and
start growing them on as new plants.

Other people will tell you how to propagate the begonias.

The idea is that the cuttings won't take up as much space over winter as
the original plants.
--
Kay

On Jul 15, 5:08 pm, K wrote:
Alternatively, take cuttings - for the pelargonium: Pick a few,
preferably non-flowering, stems about 4-6inches long, in about August.
Take off all leaves except for a couple at the top. Fill a pot with soil
or moist potting compost (not the best medium, but works for me), and
push the cuttings into the pot until 2/3 or 3/4 of the length is in the
soil, give it a bit more water and put the whole pot into a plastic bag
and tie the top. After a few weeks, you can start looking at the pot
every couple of weeks or so - take away any cuttings which have rotted,
but you should eventually see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot.
Once you've got to this stage, you can gradually remove the bag and
start growing them on as new plants.

o.k. so by then it will be Autumn? What do you do now, - do you
continue watering and where do you keep them?

Judith

" writes
On Jul 15, 5:08 pm, K wrote:
Alternatively, take cuttings - for the pelargonium: Pick a few,
preferably non-flowering, stems about 4-6inches long, in about August.
Take off all leaves except for a couple at the top. Fill a pot with soil
or moist potting compost (not the best medium, but works for me), and
push the cuttings into the pot until 2/3 or 3/4 of the length is in the
soil, give it a bit more water and put the whole pot into a plastic bag
and tie the top. After a few weeks, you can start looking at the pot
every couple of weeks or so - take away any cuttings which have rotted,
but you should eventually see roots coming out of the bottom of the pot.
Once you've got to this stage, you can gradually remove the bag and
start growing them on as new plants.

o.k. so by then it will be Autumn? What do you do now, - do you
continue watering and where do you keep them?

Indoors, water just to keep moist.
they can take a lot longer for the roots to get to the bottom of the pot
- usually I take cuttings in the late summer, put then in their plastic
bags on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse staging and forget about them
until spring.
Pelargoniums are easier than most and will root at almost any time of
the year without special care.
--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
....


Over most of the country, neither are hardy,

Oh! That's why mine died - and I thought it was the answer to my prayer ;-)

Mary

On Jul 15, 6:54 pm, K wrote:

Indoors, water just to keep moist.
they can take a lot longer for the roots to get to the bottom of the pot
- usually I take cuttings in the late summer, put then in their plastic
bags on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse staging and forget about them
until spring.

My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
but frostproof?

Judith

In article . com,
" writes:
|
| My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
| that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
| cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
| so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
| but frostproof?

Take cuttings in summer. Like many plants from semi-arid temperate
areas, most pelargoniums can take a fair amount of cold if they are
kept fairly dry. I am by no means an expert, but have succeeded
fairly well with some of the scented ones by neglecting them :-)

Given their growth rate, a few reasonable plants overwintered in the
greenhouse when not too cold and the cellar when bitter would take
off as soon as it warms up. Again, please note my lack of expertise,
but I did achieve that with some.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

" writes
On Jul 15, 6:54 pm, K wrote:

Indoors, water just to keep moist.
they can take a lot longer for the roots to get to the bottom of the pot
- usually I take cuttings in the late summer, put then in their plastic
bags on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse staging and forget about them
until spring.

My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
but frostproof?

I have a number of pelargoniums which overwinter happily in a
greenhouse which drops to 32 deg F (but no lower) overnight
occasionally, and another in an unheated porch - don't know what
temperature that goes down to.

I have found pelargoniums one of the earliest things to get frosted if
left outside too long in the autumn.

The problem with the cellar would be light (or lack of).

Begonias I can't help with.

--
Kay

On Jul 16, 10:00 pm, K wrote:
" writesOn Jul 15, 6:54 pm, K wrote:

Indoors, water just to keep moist.
they can take a lot longer for the roots to get to the bottom of the pot
- usually I take cuttings in the late summer, put then in their plastic
bags on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse staging and forget about them
until spring.

My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
but frostproof?

I have a number of pelargoniums which overwinter happily in a
greenhouse which drops to 32 deg F (but no lower) overnight
occasionally, and another in an unheated porch - don't know what
temperature that goes down to.

I have found pelargoniums one of the earliest things to get frosted if
left outside too long in the autumn.

The problem with the cellar would be light (or lack of).

Thanks Kay and Nick. The greenhouse would be too cold as it will go
well below freezing, we always get snow on Christmas Day. I might
just put them in a spare room which will be frost free.

Judith

"K" wrote in message
...
" writes
On Jul 15, 6:54 pm, K wrote:

Indoors, water just to keep moist.
they can take a lot longer for the roots to get to the bottom of the
pot
- usually I take cuttings in the late summer, put then in their plastic
bags on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse staging and forget about
them
until spring.

My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
but frostproof?

I have a number of pelargoniums which overwinter happily in a
greenhouse which drops to 32 deg F (but no lower) overnight
occasionally, and another in an unheated porch - don't know what
temperature that goes down to.

I have found pelargoniums one of the earliest things to get frosted if
left outside too long in the autumn.

The problem with the cellar would be light (or lack of).

Begonias I can't help with.

--
Kay
My granddad used to dig his up (pelargoniums) remove all the soil and wrap
them in newspaper for insulation then pack them in a cardboard box. They
survive like this fine.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea

In article ,
(Nick Maclaren) wrote:

In article . com,
" writes:
|
| My new greenhouse in France will be unheated in Winter I would imagine
| that would be too cold? The pots that I grow them in are huge and
| cannot be moved out of place, what can I do, can I take them up and if
| so what can I do to keep them safe, I have a cellar that is very cold
| but frostproof?

Take cuttings in summer. Like many plants from semi-arid temperate
areas, most pelargoniums can take a fair amount of cold if they are
kept fairly dry. I am by no means an expert, but have succeeded
fairly well with some of the scented ones by neglecting them :-)

Given their growth rate, a few reasonable plants overwintered in the
greenhouse when not too cold and the cellar when bitter would take
off as soon as it warms up. Again, please note my lack of expertise,
but I did achieve that with some.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Only thing I would add, is if you try the overwintering in newspaper
trick, make sure they stay dry! I've done this several times, and it is
successful, but if the plants/paper get damp, mould sets in. I have also
been told (but not tried it) that washing the plants before you put them
in paper reduces the risk of damp. I usually revisit them every few
weeks, and replace the newspaper.

I have also done the cutting thing, and made a paper cylinder to go
round the put before they go in the greenhouse, it seems to reduce the
risk of frostbite if the greenhouse dips below 0.

Currently without a greenhouse or pelargoniums, but I'm working on it ..

Hope that helps.

Dom