Geranium Cuttings: Never Buy a Geranium Again!

I don’t quite understand it, but the box says that I am to simply cut a piece from my geranium plant and dip it into root hormone. That’s it. I poke the dipped end in a pot of soil, and miracle of miracles. . . I have a new geranium plant.



Actually, I have three new geranium plants if it all works as the box says it should work. The little babies are lined up in my garden window. I guess I will know that the whole thing was a success when I see new growth and pretty pink blossoms.


I’m not holding my breath. And, I haven’t planned out what I will do with the plants if they survive. I’m just not sure it will work as simply as that. But, website after website said that geraniums are easiest to replicate. They seem to take almost anything except over watering. One site even said that you’ll never have to buy another geranium again – if you just keep the cycle going. They’ll multiply like Spielberg’s Gremlins or Star Trek’s Tribbles.


Very cool, if it’s true.

I sterilized a knife today and began surgery on my mother plant. This kind of activity always gets me thinking. I work. I think. And I routinely think in spiritual metaphors. I can’t seem to help myself.


The RCIA leader at my parish was talking to me the other day. He said the next class of catechumens seems to be coming together. Their first meeting is next week. Each new catechumen is immersed in eight or nine months of teaching, before being planted in the fertile soil of the Church. It’s like my geranium cuttings, with the powdery root hormone clinging to the stem. All they need is time. And hope. And every part of the process working just like it’s supposed to work.


And if everything goes as planned, we will have much to celebrate this spring. That’s how it has been for more than two thousand years. The catechumens keep coming. Multiplying like those fuzzy creatures on the small or big screen.


No root hormone necessary to turn these catechumens into neophytes. Just grace. Grace and prayer and everyone doing just what they are supposed to do. Leaders. Sponsors. Catechumens. Priests. Laity. The entire Church.


Say a prayer for a catechumen today. I’ll be praying for three… as I watch my three little geraniums struggle for new life.