The hot weather in the Finger Lakes has been good for the summer flowers around my house but they do keep me busy watering them almost daily when the temperatures climb. Some of my flowers are perennials which come up each year. I try to use a number of perennials around the house as they usually can take care of themselves and are very hearty.
I do have a dozen or so potted geraniums that can be moved around anyplace where I want to add a bit of color. The geranium plant likes the sun but too much sum and their color fades. My mother always had geraniums in the flower boxes on the front porch which faced north on our old farm house. They seemed to thrive there and put on a great show for all that passed by on the road. I too have some geraniums under the back deck which only receive the late afternoon sun and they do just fine there.
Flowers are a great way to welcome guests to your house and I have always said that they make a statement about the people who live in the house. Some people try to co-ordinate the colors of their flowers or only use one color. But with the new varieties of geraniums, I mix up the colors and let them speak for themselves! One thing that I have learned about geraniums is to keep the water off the leaves and flowers. They seem to do better if you water them from underneath. And don’t be too generous with the water otherwise the blooms will not last very long!
I bought some late petunias from a roadside stand along route 20 which were in the direct sun. I figured that if they survived there along that busy route, they ought to do well under the tree in my front yard. Flowers are sort of like people in that you have to move them around a bit in order to find out what makes them happy and some require more care than others. But what would summer be like in the Finger Lakes without flowers?