Mrs. Perry D. Slocum...

When I retired the guys I worked for gave me a big gift certificate to a local nursery.  I used most of the money to buy a lotus, Mrs. Perry D. Slocum.

While this isn't my photo, this is exactly what she looked like.  She was breathtaking.  And she bloomed every year until we rebuilt the pond.  She was outside the pond for three or four days before being placed at a different depth than she was used to and she just didn't send up any more shoots.  So, a few weeks ago I ordered a dormant tuber from Bonnie Hale in North Carolina for $20.00.  I had purchased pond plants from her before and she always sent top quality plants.  She had a huge e-mail about handling the tuber, planting it, taking care of it, etc.  Pages of information.  I read it all.  When the tuber arrived broken, she implied it was my fault, she had been mailing tubers for 16 years, I  must have handled it roughly (I swear, I did not).  Her information had dire warnings about broken tubers not surviving.  Hoping for the best, I followed directions for planting, added bottom heat, used good top soil and was rewarded with shoots from both pieces of the tuber (so much for dire warnings).  What was not included in the information she provided was how fast these shoots would grow and how quickly they would fill the container I had them in (a tub that came home from the hospital with my father-in-law).  So I emailed her and asked her what dimensions the tubs she used were and got a snarky e-mail back that said I could not transplant the tuber now, it would kill it and didn't I read the information she gave me?  OK, so much for customer service.  I ordered a lotus tub on line and received it today.  Carl filled it with top soil for me and then cut the sides off of the container I was using.  We just lifted the bottom of the hospital tub into a depression in the new tub and added dirt around it to the level it was used to and then I added water.  We do need more top soil but the tubers haven't been disturbed and we won't have to do this again.  I am hoping for the best but it's survival of the fittest around here.  (We have been known to plant annual perennials.)  We will not have to disturb it again but it won't go in the pond until June, heaven only knows how big it will be by then and I'm wondering where I'm going to put it that has enough light to keep it alive.  Note to self:  next time, stupid, pay the extra money and buy the lotus in June and let someone else do the worrying.

And, this is my photo.  Worth a little trouble, right?