White Geraniums

I love geraniums.  They are bright and cheerful and thrive just about anywhere.  I have had geraniums growing around me my whole life.  At my childhood home there were (and still are) lush red geraniums stationed like sentries on either side of the driveway.  Cheery single blossomed geraniums in various shades of pink smile and bob along the front of the house, and throughout the back yard as well.

At my condo I now have multiple varieties and colors growing.  At first I resisted planting them.  They seemed so common and mundane.  I wanted to plant roses and hydrangeas and more lush exotic plants.  The roses succumbed to some strange parasite that encased them in thin webbing and then sucked them dry.  The hydrangeas withered and rotted.  The shade loving flowers like fuchsias and even the supposed sun loving ones like chrysanthemums and alyssum all dried up in the driving heat of the sun, reflected off the wooden walls and concrete composite flooring of the deck itself.

But the geraniums…  The geraniums bloomed and blossomed and thrived.  Standard geraniums grew tall and proud in their stately faux ceramic pots.  Ivy geraniums tumbled down in a profusion of delicate looking leaves and ruffled petals.  Okay, the scented geraniums didn't do quite so well, but that could have also been due to my own haphazard and irregular care schedule.

So I started with one geranium, then two.  As the other flowering plants slowly resigned and faded away, another geranium soon took their place.  I now have such a profusion of colors.  This morning I looked out through the sliding glass door, and right in front of me was a lovely offering of white geranium flowers.  In the morning sunlight they were fresh and joyous, full of life. 

As I was wrapping up this post I decided to do a search on the meaning of the geranium flower.  I found the following:  "The word geranium means crane, referring to its long stem, and the emotional meaning is gentility or peace of mind."  I think immediately of the white egrets (cranes) I have been seeing recently.  White geraniums in particular are "symbolic of happiness, healing and renewed joy.  They remind us to take time to savor the moments in life that truly make us happy."  And that they did this morning as they caught my gaze, and I paused for a simple moment of peace and enjoyment.