It has been a miserably cold and wet spring, with some days feeling more like fall than Spring. I have been sidelined for six months since my hip gave out on me, and I ended up needing a total hip replacement. That makes me bionic! Smile. Due to the surgery and the weather, I didn’t have a chance to prepare my back garden for the season.
Last winter, I brought in a few of my outdoor planters in an attempt to save some of my plants. Unfortunately, my effort to keep the poinsettia alive for another year failed; the winter was just too harsh for it in the sunroom. However, I did manage to save the two geranium planters I had on the porch. It wasn’t until Mother’s Day that I finally got a decent stretch of spring weather to put them outside.
A few weeks after I moved geraniums to the back deck, I noticed that their leaves turned bright red. I don’t think I’ve ever seen red leaves on these plants before. Last year, I kept them all winter, and their leaves remained green the whole time.
In early spring, the flowers looked great and the plants were thriving, but I couldn’t understand why they were developing red leaves.
I considered the possibility of over-fertilizing or under-fertilizing, and I couldn’t find any pests. A quick Google search indicated various conditions that could cause red leaves. SEE HERE
I live in Ohio, and we’ve experienced almost daily rain this spring. Both April and May had rainfall exceeding five inches each month. Today is June 8th, and it rained this past weekend, with more rain expected over the next week.
It turns out the red leaves are a result of over-watering. The geraniums next door are planted in the ground and have standard green leaves. In contrast, my plants are in a planter that retains water.
Interestingly, the planter closer to the eaves is somewhat sheltered from the rain, and those leaves are not as red.
Thankfully, the research suggests the red leaves will return to their usual green after the plant has a chance to recover and dry out. I can only hope this rainy season is coming to an end. My deck gets full sun until late afternoon, and after years of trying different plants, I’ve found that geraniums bloom consistently throughout the hot summers of NE Ohio.
Who would have thought that rain could change a plant’s leaf color? I dislike the red leaves intensely and am hopeful that summer will bring back their green.
Has anyone else had this happen?
