Pet Rock

It has been nearly seven years since I documented the discovery of this mysterious Pet Rock in a hanging pot of zonal geranium at work. Until only recently, it had remained where it was for all this time. I did not want whomever left it to return to find it gone. Even after the zonal geranium were replaced with ivy geranium, it was returned to its original position. Unfortunately though, the ivy geranium did not perform much better than the original zonal geranium, so their hanging planters were recently removed completely with no plans to replace them. The Pet Rock was regrettably removed with them. There are no other planters nearby to deposit it into. I can only hope that whomever left it will not miss it. Realistically, I suspect that it was forgotten about shortly after it was left there. The difficulty is that I do not know. Well, the Pet Rock remains in the nursery at work, just in case someone asks about it. Perhaps it will eventually be deposited elsewhere in a landscape for someone else to wonder about. Perhaps that is how it was deposited into the hanging pot of zonal geranium where I found it!

Geum

Geum has rustic appeal.

Old fashioned geum (or ‘avens’), Geum coccineum, was popular in rock gardens of the 1970’s because it clings to stone, and cascades somewhat. In modern gardens, it works just as well in large pots or planters, mixed with other perennials. The fuzzy foliage forms compact mounds about half a foot high and wide. The bright orange flowers with fuzzy yellow centers stand about twice as high, and bloom from spring through summer. Removal of fading flowers promotes continued bloom.