23 April 2013

geranium

I haven't made much note of houseplants lately, but the mini-Geranium has gotten quite robust! It is full of nice large leaves with the vivid reddish half-moon markings. I turn it daily in the windowsill so I can enjoy looking at the "face" of the leaves, which themselves are always turning back towards the sun.

I am refraining from trimming it again yet because I've learned through many errors the past few years, that to develop a bonsai you don't try and make a small plant grow into the shape you want. You find a larger one, or let it grow to substantial size so the stem is thick, and then cut it down to make the miniature-tree form. Or at least, so the books advised me and I didn't really follow that until more recently with my jades (pics of those later).
So- to make this Geranium look like the stout little tree I want, I have to let it just grow freely for several years, because the food the leaves collect from sun will give it a thick stem/trunk. It's even got a funky little branch growing low off to one side, which kind of spoils the profile right now but I let it be.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What is the Latin name for this geranium.

Jeane said...

I'm sorry to say I don't know. I picked it up at a garden street fair some years ago. It had no tag.