Goodbye Cannas -- Hello Hostas

While I was congratulating myself on cleaning my kitchen like my mom taught me to, I was ignorant of the fact that my cannas had frozen once again.

Last fall we admitted defeat and hired a cleaning lady. She kept the place from becoming a total disaster, but she certainly didn't clean like we do--when we do it. That was the problem that brought about the aforementioned defeat. We didn't get the cleaning done until both of us tired of the mess we were living in. Then we would take an entire Saturday and CLEAN! With the coming of summer vacation, I started by doing a good cleaning of the entire house. I cleaned in corners that hadn't been cleaned for a long time; I moved furniture to sweep the floor (apparently that had not been done either for a long time); I scrubbed the drip pans on the stove, scrubbed the sides of the refrigerator and stove, and wiped the cabinet doors. The house was clean once again.

Then I moved outdoors to finally get the dahlia and canna bulbs planted. I found a bag of dahlia bulbs, but discovered the cannas had stayed in the ground all winter. They were a rotted mass not to be revived. How many years have I had to get new bulbs from Romaine because mine froze? I have no idea. I have now admitted another defeat. I have said goodbye to the cannas and planted hostas in their place. Every year when it is time to bring the bulbs indoors, school has started and I am busy (who said I don't have anything to do?) and it doesn't happen. Hostas can stay out all winter and will come back up the next year. That is the kind of plant I need. I console myself with the fact that because they were planted on the back side of the shed we never got to enjoy the flowers much anyway.

Success or defeat is a matter of making the right choices. I choose to be successful in growing hostas.