Even Though It’s Followed by Beastly Hot Summer, I’m Still Pretty Fond of Spring

Cue the music (Also Sprach Zarathurstra)! Something amazing is happening among the ferns!

Here is the explanatory text, in case you ‘d like to know how the music came to be written. The link above is the shorter part that you might recognize from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Or try this, the longer version, where you can watch the whole orchestra.

I have loved Hosta plants for years. I had a nice patch of them at our old house. They’re perennials, and would very reliably lose their leaves in the winter and come back up in the spring, growing and blooming nicely underneath a big, old pecan tree. When we moved, I thought the north side of the house would be perfect. Also growing there were wood ferns, which also lost their leaves with the first frost, but bounced right back again, pushing up their tiny, curled-up fronds when the weather warmed back up.

Here’s Peter, last spring, digging a hole for the new Hosta I had bought. There are two who came back from the previous year, one close to the toe of his boot, and one close to the heel.

So I bought and planted Hostas, with pretty limited success. I keep on trying.

I no longer purchase several Hosta plants each year. I usually get one, maybe two.

This year, I bought one new one, thinking this might be the last time I try (but, alas, I always forget about “one last time” each year when spring rears its delightful head). Then, I had Peter with me at a nursery, and we decided that I might should get another one.

Later that day, we were playing outside and I said, “Oh! Look here! One of the Hostas has come back!”

Several days later, YES!! Another one.

And, then, a third one. We had the coldest winter in several years, with temps of 12 and 13 degrees for a couple of days. And, still, they came back. And, I have two more, all ready to go into the ground. Maybe I shouldn’t try buying a variety of them. Possibly I should just keep adding the ones that seem hardier. Well, too late for that this year. Maybe next.

And not only are they beautifully adorned, they smell and taste pretty good, too!