>> Rule #1: Never assume the rocks you buried the previous year stayed buried. That's how I killed a perfectly good Honda pushmower. I sell those at the Farmers Market as potatoes. You'd be amazed how many people buy 'em

Linda, Thank you for asking. Yes, I confess. I love cannas. In my climate, there are only a few people I know that can leave them in the ground year round and I consider them magicians with microclimates. The rest of us must store them over winter somehow. I prefer not to dig mostly out of laziness. You are exactly right about the bubble pack and brown paper. Brown paper for darkness and bubble pack to provide some insulation since my garage is not heated. Once they all green up, I will pull out all the brown dead leaves from last year and clean them up. In late May, they will be able to stay outside all day. For now, the canna trolley it is. I also gave them some kelp water about every 3rd water. And this year, I gave them a sprinkle of milorganite because I read that it can give you huge cannas. I don't know all the variety names that I have. I never really kept track. I do know that I have Bengal Tiger which I bought last year and a yellow one called Harvest Yellow. I actually found that out by posting on this forum which was so fun! I have a red one, a hot pink one, and I have a dwarf variety as well. The pots are pretty full and I should probably divide. I did divide the yellow one last fall so I'm waiting to see how that turned out before dividing others. I don't have the best pictures of mine, but promise to try to get better photos this year. Harvest Yellow - photo taken August 2016 (this one blooms really late)

Hong I'm so glad they are coming through the ordeal and that you won't lose them. I would have been devastated if I did that!! I am fighting broadmites now and the forbid is helping. Will hit them today with spectracide. Hopefully they will be ok. Linda

One of you cottagers posted a list of Michigan strange items a while back, so I'll try not to repeat that, but here are a few terms you might hear around here. The state is divided into two peninsulas, the upper one is the U.P. and the good folks who live there are yoopers. The peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge which crosses the Straits of Mackinac and has one end in MackinawCity. Nearby is MackinawIsland. All are pronounced the same way, courtesy of the French. People who live in the L.P. are called trolls, because, of course, they live below the bridge. The Mackinac Bridge is almost always called just the bridge. If we are going to the U.P. we say we are going up across. A U.P. city straddling the border to Canada is Sault Ste. Marie, pronounced Soo Saint Marie (French again). If we are heading that way, we say we are going to the Soo, and while we're there we may take a look at the locks. Tourists on Mackinaw Island (and now everywhere in the state) are called fudgies, due to the boxes of fudge many of them carry around after they have been enticed inside one of the many fudge shops by the irresistible aroma of boiling chocolate. Lots of Michiganders enjoy a meal of pasties (that's pass - tees), courtesy of the Cornish miners that came to live in the U.P. They are like a folded-over pie-crust with meat, potatoes, carrots, onions, and often rutabagas inside. (My mom always used to say rutabeggies.) They're very good, if a little on the dry side. A little gravy helps a lot. If you get too thirsty while eating one, you can always have a pop ( not a soda - you have to go to a soda fountain for those, which you can't hardly find anymore) Hope you learned something fun. ThinMan