Flowers

 I'm grateful for geranium starts and other flowers that bloom inside when it's cold and stormy outside.  

I "inherited" two geranium plants from my mother's kitchen window after she and my father passed away several years ago.  It seems like my mother always had several geraniums growing in her kitchen windows.  I don't know if they were always the same plants or if she on occasion replaced them with new plants, but I now have a red one and a pink one.  I don't have the best place for large indoor plants at my house, and both plants tend to get very leggy trying to get enough sun light.  A month or so ago I decided that the time for trimming the plants and rooting new starts was long over-due, so I trimmed off both stems below all off the green leaves (they were both very very leggy) and cut each stem in half for rooting in my own kitchen window sill in mason jars filled with water.  The two rootings that had existing leaves are rooting quite well, the pink one is now in full bloom, and both plants and due to be transplanted into pots whenever I get a free few minutes and another warm day that I can work outside.   The two middle stem sections are also starting roots and growing leaves.  

One of the original plant stems has also started growing new leaves, but the other original plant has had me worried that I cut off too much for it to recover.   Today I took a closer look, and low and behold, one verytiny leaf has started to sprout from the old, very much pruned stem:  Hooray!  I'm filled with amazement and wonder at the strength and stamina of this poor little geranium.  

Last month's birthday flowers from my DH.

There's nothing like flowers to brighten a stormy day!