Forgot to update. I replanted them :D Hahaha. Washing the dirt out is totally wrong. I noticed the outer skin was a little bit slimy/slippery even after 4 hours I cleaned them up. I was told to replant them, so I did. So from what I have gathered more, here is what I think is best. If in pots and you want to make it as an indoor plant 1. dig them before frost and while foliage is still nice 2. put a new soil that will provide good drainage 3. Put in a sunny location 4. Water as needed If in pots and you don't want it as an indoor plant 1. let the leaves gets zapped by frost 2. cut them short 3. bring it in basement(cold dark area) but don't put directly on cold floor, maybe on a table. You decide. 4. cover the pots with tarp or black garbage bags If in ground 1. let the leaves gets zapped by frost 2. cut them short 3. dig them up 4. remove dirt but not too much. Dirt acts like an insulation. Try to mimic the nature 5. put in garage so the soil dries out a bit if canna recently took a shower 6. once it's dry(not too dry), put them in paper bag. Paper bag prevents moisture but also keeps the lite moisture from going out the bag. 7. pray :D

Sharon that is Hakone grass or Japanese Forest Grass. I bought 4 plants of it this year. It is a very slow growing grass but when it matures it is really gorgeous. It does not get very high, rather it spreads and it is one of the few grasses that actually likes shade. Yeah I did a lot of digging this spring. I am happy about it but anxious as well. I shovel pruned so many established plants last fall and this spring so now I have large plants with babies...oh well, that is the deal with gardening, they will look much better next year. I decided to focus more on foliage and so for the remainder of this year I will be looking around for different types of great foliage plants. I love my flowers but I guess my tastes are changing at this stage of the game.

Hi msdorkgirl: I love your username !! I'm a dork myself, like wearing pajamas in my garden. Yes, it's Francis Meilland with tons of buds in a big-pot at Menards store. I would had bought it, except I got tons of pink-roses already. What type of soil do you have in Hawaii? Roses are water-hog & nutrients-freak and they do best in nutrient-rich soil. Plus they bloom best if the water is slight acidic, like rain water at pH 6 in my Chicagoland. Rain water is more acidic at the east coast, at pH 5.6. If you use tap-water to water your roses, they won't bloom well since tap-water is treated with calcium hydroxide, which raise the pH and make nutrients less available. My tap water pH is 8.6, and roses don't bloom with that. I have to lower the pH with sulfate of potash (26% sulfur), or soluble gypsum (17% sulfur). Now I use a rain-barrel to collect water, and my roses bloom lots more. Francis Meilland is a Romantica (French roses). French roses are water-hogs and bloom best if OWN-ROOT, rather than grafted on Dr. Huey rootstock. My Frederic Mistral (French rose) used to be stingy for 2 years , then on the 3rd year, I put sulfate of potash in my tap-water, and it gave me 40 buds for spring flush. Roses won't bloom if there isn't enough potassium or phosphorus in the soil. So 3 things that prevent roses from blooming: Wrong pH: either soil or tap water too alkaline (pH above 8), or too acidic (below 5). Not enough potassium or phosphorus in the soil. My own-root Comte de Chambord is 8 inches tall, 1 foot wide ... really tiny rose, but it has 7 buds. I put grind-up sunflower seed in the planting hole, plus alfalfa pellets. My 2nd Comte de Chambord is much bigger, but only 4 buds ... I put only alfalfa pellets. My 3rd Comte de Chambord is GRAFTED, and it's tiny, only 2 buds. All 3 get some chicken manure on top. Too high nitrogen in fertilizer. I once put blood meal on my marigolds, and they shot up to 3 feet tall, zero blooms for the entire year. I did that to my roses too, using NPK 10-5-4 (too high nitrogen), and they didn't bloom for 3 months !! Lesson well learned, I stick to LOW-NITROGEN, like alfalfa pellets at NPK 2-1-2 (equal ratio of nitrogen to potassium). Good luck.

Was checking on FW minutes ago - thought I'd also check on Striptease who is looking good after its move to centre of that bed and up close it is developing some bright colour to its leaf centres. Had no tape, see no droop, no problem! But the water bill this month will hit the roof, lol!!! At first I thought the bed was kind of blah, not enough pizzazzzzz but then remembered Striptease will become more colourful, Bedazzled will add colour as will Wolverine and Hanky Panky up front. That bed is so sunny for half a day that it can use a bit of muting down. June resides to the right and provides brightness too. Hard to believe I had FF, GT, JCC and Ginsu Knife all in there! Looked fine two years ago though! LOL Time stops for no one...peony show just about over... hosta scapes, lily scapes, delphinium scapes, etc. taking the relay... almost summer!