Summer in Italy and every house has potted geraniums. Bright red and pink and overflowing. We noticed if someone had a larger piece of property it was almost certain they had a proper garden. But even those living in stone or brick apartment buildings with maybe a window or two had geraniums. There were window boxes, pots on balconies and often basil plants were tucked in between the flowers. Geraniums are like the universal plant that’s hardy and easy to grow. Our porch growing up had large pots of perfect red geraniums that my mother cared for by deadheading the flowers, feeding them with Miracle-Gro and tilling the soil to make it look as though they were just planted. In Italy the geraniums range from robust, overgrown to a bit scraggly and yet all beautiful.
We took many dirt roads that lead to a house or two at the end. No one seemed to mind that we were there or that we were taking photos before we headed back to the main road. I think here we call it trespassing. Often we were even greeted by the homeowner or caretaker…I was never quite sure. We were driving a rather large Mercedes rental car. Maybe it was the car….maybe we looked innocent enough, we’ll never know for sure, but I made a mental note to always rent a luxury car.
Michelle says
beautiful, annie! you are such an inspiration to appreciate and find joy in the little things. thank you for that!
mary-irene says
lovely, charming, beautiful!!! I have a new appreciation for red geraniums now. They have long been my husband’s favorite, and my Mom loved them too.
Karen says
It’s so awesome that so many apartments have a place to have flowers and that people actually keep flowers there. I see a lot of this on Instagram in Italy and also in Paris. They’re so beautiful. Flowers just make everything look good. Loving the pics from your trip!
classic•casual•home says
AHHHHH….I want to go there.
Holly says
I didn’t realize they were so universally abundant in other countries but it makes sense for how hardy they are. I had one that I kept in our shed over the winter and sure enough it came right back around this spring. Guess you know I’ll be holding onto my geraniums this year in the hopes that I can bring them back again in the spring.
Jennifer says
Oh, such great pictures. I have always loved geraniums and they always do really well no matter where I live. I mostly plant red geraniums every year, but this year I decided to change it up and plant coral pink ones in a window box and mixed them with dark green ivy. Your trip looks fantastic from the pictures, thank you for sharing!