Well, have you decided what to get mom for Mother’s Day. It’s only a couple of days away. And while flowers are great, lots of moms would love a plant that blooms through the entire summer as a reminder of Mother’s Day.
Garden master Jim Duthie gives us a few living Mother’s Day gift ideas you can find at local garden centers.
You might not even notice it as you cruise past on Highway 44 east of Eagle, but Old Valley Nursery has been around for decades. And like other garden centers and nurseries throughout southwest Idaho, they offer a huge selection of bedding plants, trees and shrubs to enhance your landscape.
“Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend, and while mothers love plants, they love the ones that are going to live and bloom all summer long. We’ve got some ideas for you.”
Like geraniums, a favorite for generations because of their profusion of bright, colorful blossoms.
“We have a lot of hanging geraniums right now,” said horticulturist Sue Doolittle. “They are splendid for blooming all season long.”
Geraniums are great in hanging baskets, and they also do well in patio containers.
“Very much so. These are really nice. They’re already big, so you could even just set them right down in to a container.”
There are several different varieties of geraniums, but the two basic types are ivy and zonal. The main difference is in the leaves.
Ivy geraniums are named for their ivy-shaped, glossy leaves. They tend to be more trailing, and so they do especially well in hanging baskets.
“This one right here, this is an ivy leaf geranium. Because it has a glossier leaf to it, almost kind of resembles an ivy plant.”
Zonal geraniums…
