This Dr. Livingstone geranium died from
the cold – except for this sprout.
I was convinced this Pelargonium ‘Dr. Livingstone’ (lemon-rose scented) was a complete loss. We had a cold snap in late December during which temperatures fell to 22 degrees F. So I knew this was dead. When I put my hand around the trunk to yank it out of the pot, I spotted the little green sprout at the base! So I decided to cut away the dead part and let the plant grow back from the new growth. The lesson here is “Look before you pull.”
My cold weather emergency plan worked well. All the “movable”-sized pots were brought into the kitchen. During the fall, I made sure that I had new extra plants of the varieties that were in “non-movable”-sized pots. So even though the plants in the largest pots couldn’t be saved, I haven’t lost any varieties from my collection.
More Pelargonium/Cold Weather Observations:
More Sensitive to Cold: P. ‘Ginger’, P. ‘Lime’, P. ‘Variegated Prince Rupert’, P. ‘Dr. Livingstone’, P. elongatum – Showed signs of distress from the cold sooner than the others.
Less Sensitive to Cold: P. grossularioides stayed outside throughout the cold snap and although suffering some cold damage, has recovered nicely.
