The Guru is back. Normalcy may have returned.
As many of you know, I am a child of the tropics. I did not see snow until I went to college in North Carolina. This January I got my fill of the weekly snow storms, so I took a friend and ran off to Florida to feel some 80 degree tropical breezes and connect again with the palms I grew as a kid.
They call it a jungle for a reason. The plant life is coarse, wild, and a tangled mess. Even botanical gardens cannot escape the chaos. But a visit is exhilarating. Sometimes I just do not want that much organization in my life.
But most times I do and that’s why hostas are the focus of my life. Unlike murderous strangler figs, monstera vines that devour pines, and sabal palms casually dropping their dead frons haphazardly everywhere, hostas are neat, maybe even a little formal. Yes, they pretty much stay where you plant them right behind their labels but there is more. Their leaves are symmetric, their clumps perfectly mounded. They make borders, they bring order to the garden. Their colors are refined not riotous like bromeliads.
Hostas give us calm and peace in the summer garden. In winter we can escape to the festive tropics but in summer we want the tranquility of our hosta gardens. For me, I need both, chaos and organization in my life. Too much of either one is not healthy. People say that hostas have tropical foliage, I would disagree. They do have dramatic foliage but it is well behaved. I actually wish they would cut loose every once in a while.
There is a hosta that spends the winter in Florida. They call it the SUN HOSTA TM. It is actually ‘So Sweet’ and is virtually evergreen there. I have included a photo of it in a container at the entrance of the Port St. Lucie Botanical Garden next to a croton, maybe my favorite plant. (Is that heresy?) It does look well behaved, doesn’t it?
Yes, there is now a little beach sand on the mats my truck and there is a pirated bag of palm seeds on the kitchen counter. You never know, they just might magically spring to life in the nursery when summer finally arrives.
Bob, I get it. We spent January in Florida and Sue and I both love the lush tropical landscapes. In the past we even had a couple of palm trees, potted, in our Wisconsin yard until I just got tired of hauling the 70 pound pots into the basement every fall. Now I am thankful for the lushness, and hardiness, of my hostas.
I’m glad you got to take a vacation. Today I went to the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago for a mental health day – I needed to see some green during the winter. I am looking forward to Spring and to see if my new hostas survived.