Anna Arett has taken gardening creativity to a whole new level.

Throughout her life, Arett's passion for working outside led not only to beautiful gardens on her farm near Moscow, Minn., but also to a number of entirely new hybrid hosta plants.

A hosta, also called a plantain lily, is a perennial plant with large clumps of leaves. Arett is 101 years old and a nine-year resident of St. Mark's Lutheran Home in Austin. Between 1975 and 1983, she found and named 12 different varieties of hosta, which had formed on their own through combinations of spores. Chippewa, Lady in Waiting and Shells at Sea are a few that Arett, a member of the American Hosta Society, found and named in her garden. But her first hosta, the Anne Arett, is the one that will carry her legacy into future generations.

When Arett moved to St. Mark's, she brought 100 of her plants with her.

"When I first started here, every leaf came from my farm," she said.

Pat Hanson, Arett's daughter, said she remembers her mother spending time planting hostas under the evergreen trees at home.

"She had a beautiful farm and a beautiful garden," Hanson said.

Arett's hobby, which she calls "digging in the dirt" has helped her through some tough times.

Arett has had to deal with the deaths of family members in her life. All of her siblings have died, and she lost one of her four children in World War II. Her husband, Fred, died in 1971.

Hanson said gardening was Arett's therapy.

"That's what she did whenever she needed to," Hanson said. "Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she planted flowers.

She said her mother is a passionate person, throwing herself completely into things like gardening, quilting and just going out and having a good time.

"Whatever she did, that was her life at the moment," Hanson said.

Arett still loves hostas, and if you tell her you don't own any, she'll get on you case about it.

"Shame on you," she said. "As available as they are."

Hanson said her mother has passed that passion for gardening on to her.

"We're lucky to have had her for this long," she said.

Matt Merritt can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:matt.merritt@austindailyherald.com