I often find myself struggling for words - even familiar ones - as I go through years of what is commonly becoming known as "brain fog." But the funny thing is, if I can't come up with the word in English, sometimes it comes more easily in Russian! Or occasionally Chinese or Spanish... though my vocabulary in those tongues is now extremely limited.
Example:
What is the name of this flower?
After some muddled moments, I can unearth the name, герань.
(pronounced "gye-rahn" with rolled "r" and palatalized "n")
(pronounced "gye-rahn" with rolled "r" and palatalized "n")
Then the similar sounds help me come around to the English name of "geranium."
Bet you came up with the name faster than me!! ;-)
This particular geranium plant has brought us joy for several years now. The photos above are from its first season in 2014. A blog post (here) from last spring shows it dressed in the milder shade of salmon into which it fades during winters indoors.
Last autumn as we once again began hauling pots indoors and covering delicate plants in the garden every chilly night, we had to ask some questions. How many pots can we really fit in the house through the winter? How many do we really want to have to water weekly?
Since the geranium had become my "pet," it was up to me to make the decision. I hardened my heart, took a couple cuttings that I knew may not even root, and let the plant freeze.
Indoors, the glass with my cuttings languished for weeks. Then months. They got thrown out by someone cleaning once, but I had just been thinking I might be seeing a hint of activity at the cut end. So I fished them out of the compost pail and set the glass in an out-of-the-way window-sill once more.
This January, I was surprised to see a mass of hairy roots filling the glass! One cutting had died, but the other had finally thrived!
It didn't take long once potted to open its first tiny bud.
This particular geranium plant has brought us joy for several years now. The photos above are from its first season in 2014. A blog post (here) from last spring shows it dressed in the milder shade of salmon into which it fades during winters indoors.
Last autumn as we once again began hauling pots indoors and covering delicate plants in the garden every chilly night, we had to ask some questions. How many pots can we really fit in the house through the winter? How many do we really want to have to water weekly?
Since the geranium had become my "pet," it was up to me to make the decision. I hardened my heart, took a couple cuttings that I knew may not even root, and let the plant freeze.
Indoors, the glass with my cuttings languished for weeks. Then months. They got thrown out by someone cleaning once, but I had just been thinking I might be seeing a hint of activity at the cut end. So I fished them out of the compost pail and set the glass in an out-of-the-way window-sill once more.
This January, I was surprised to see a mass of hairy roots filling the glass! One cutting had died, but the other had finally thrived!
It didn't take long once potted to open its first tiny bud.
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