My "early" garden was a bust, even with shadecloth on parts of it, though I may have waited too long before shading. I grew 4 kinds of corn, all supposed to be heat & drought tolerant & got nary an ear, but it bloomed. On the other hand, my fall garden did well & I managed to get at least some tomatoes. My winter garden is peculiar--lettuce & some greens bolting, broccoli making loose heads, etc. In January. Just enough cold weather for my cabbage to start heading finally. I have planted a couple of cool weather tomatoes in hopes they will survive, but the others stay in for now. Most of the black tomatoes will continue to produce in heat & a few others. I find myself freezing more now so I know I will have it. Last year was a sure cure for complacency!

I mowed in the rain on Sunday out of desperation. The plants love all this rain (enough drainage for them I guess, thankfully no rotting yet), but I can't get caught up on the mowing, and there are plants that needed dividing that are almost topping out -- so I'm cutting some of them back to try and stall them. I've never seen such a wet spring. I'd hoped it was just a bag case of April Showers Bring May Flowers....but it's the middle of May now. Well, at least it's not a drought, and not a flood. I had finally converted to mulch last year, so the weeds aren't growing as fast as the plants. And the tornadoes haven't hit here. So I'm thankful on several counts! Bea -- I sure hope you stay a-ok. Keep us posted.

My neighbors have 3 and with the neglect that they suffer, they still keep blooming and living. Of course, if they would water regularly, the plants would be so much better but sometimes it goes through long periods of drought and still keeps living. I'm sure they never feed or mulch it. After a watering or a rain, it flowers. Try Clotilde in a pot where you can water from the base. She's an easy rose to grow but don't get the buds or flowers wet or they won't open or will look browned. As long as you do this, you will have beautiful little pink bon bons all year. I think the foliage is very pretty too. I always thought she would excel as a standard.

Here in CA, USA, I got my Canna x Generalis Seed from TradeWindsFruit.com. They have two varieties, orange and what they call Tiger Lilly Red. I had a good deal of trouble getting them to germinate due to the high temperatures here in Bakersfield. However, after moving them to shade, they have now nearly all sprouted. I would think that folks in cooler zones would have less trouble getting them to germ, especially if they start them indoors and put 'em out later. See the post I started on 'Observation on Canna Germination' for more info and photos of the young plants.