Petee Check out my Canna Lilly

[mananna59]

Petee my husband wanted to know if that gord plant we got ,ever eats people? Ha Ha, he says it reminds him of that huge plant on Little Plant of Horrors. She is growing the full length and height of our deck and lattice. I think it makes him a little nervous. Every day with this rain it honestly grows out an other foot or so. If it starts yelling feed me , we may have a problem.LOL

[boobear20]

the canna lilly is so cool!   was it hard to keep? i am thinking about one for next year!

[gypsywannabe]

The cannas have to be pulled and the tuber dried over the winter, correct?

 

Altho, in front of the cath church in Punxy there are 2 square gardens cut out of the front walkway and there seem to be more and more cannas in there each summer when I walk by.

 

Do you think they pull them and they are still multiplying?

[lavender]

You get more and more tubers each year. You pull them in the fall and then in the spring you divide them. Usually you leave more than one eye in each clump but each one will make a plant.

I've dug clumps in the fall that I could hardly lift. When they started out they were 2 or three gallon pots.

The things multiply like crazy.

[gypsywannabe]

Thanks Lavender.

After I pull them, do I leave them in dirt? water through the winter? Dry them and out them in a paper bag? I don't want to ruin them. I DO LOVE THEM!

[Bon]

I also want to know if I can just leave mine in the container since I move it to the basement when it gets cold.

[lavender]

You dig the tuber and leave the dirt intact. Put them in a plastic bag with the top open especially if they are really wet. Store them in a cool area. I have a friend that thinks the area should have at least some light. I've never watered them but my basement is damp. You don't want them the shrivel.

I see no reason why they can't be overwintered in a big pot as long as you keep an eye on it and make sure the tubers don't get so dry they shrivel.

[Petee]

I leave mine in the pot, but let it dry out first.  Then I stuff it in a closet in the basement.  Check on them once in a while and if the soil is cracking because it's too dry, or if you see any sort of mold, either take them out and dry them a little more of add just a teeny bit of water.

 

They want enough moisture to keep the tuber alive but not growing.  They're like a Dahlia and you can put them into the same conditions such as a plastic storage box of peat, right along with your Gladiolus and other summer bulbs.  I put each type into an onion bag after they're dried and mark the bag with the name on masking tape.

 

Then about the beginning of May, take them out into a sunny place, and feed and water them.  They'll be ready to go outside about the time of the last frost.  Tender bulbs which go directly into the ground should go out about the last frost or maybe a week before.

 

 

[Bon]

1 of the canna lillies that I bought bloomed!!! The Toad Lily I bought is full of buds and blooms!!

[lavender]

Your toad lilies are way ahead of mine! They have a new one at Lowe's. If I remember correctly it is "Blue Horizon" and looks to be a midsized one.

Actually your canna is way ahead of the ones on the embankment and they usually bloom early. I start the tubers in pots around April.

[Bon]

I bought the toad lily at lowes. The ones I bought that were just roots never came up, so I cheated ;D

[lavender]

And I lied. I was outside this afternoon (first time in a week with the rain) and the toad lilies I put in 2 years ago are blooming. I probably am going to pick up another one. The temptation is too great.

I carved out another section and put in 30 ferns. I'm covered with mosquito bites.

[Bon]

I've got 3 new shoots coming up from the canna lilies...is this normal this time of year?

[lavender]

They grow right up until frost. I think the tropical stuff doesn't gear down the way our native plants do. They aren't expecting the cold because they are genetically geared to warmer climates.

[Petee]

You're plant is developing some new rhizomes, so next year you can expect more plants.  You may want to try to nurture it as long as possible this fall to give the new rhizomes extra time to grow stronger.  Maybe bring it in if there is an expected frost and then take it back out again till the daytime temperatures start to fall of there is a really hard frost.

 

http://gardening.about.com/od/plantprofile1/p/Canna.htm

 

[Bon]

I got a free packet of red poppy seeds in the mail and planted them with the canna's. Wonder if that was a mistake???? I didn't know I would get baby canna's this year.

[lavender]

You won't exactly get baby cannas but the tuber will continue to grow. As it grows it will develop more "eyes". Each eye will put up leaves and is a new plant if you choose to divide the tuber. You should leave 2-4 eyes on each plant if you want a good sized clump. Remember that you will have to dig the clumps and store them after the first frost.

The best way to sow poppy seeds it to toss them on the last snow of the spring. They need a chilling period before they will germinate. What you have done will work but they will not germinate until spring.

[Bon]

They are up about 1/2 inch. With the weather that we have had the last week, I'd say that was cold...lol.

[lavender]

The seeds may have been prechilled before they were packaged. There are also poppies that don't need prechilling but most of them do. Some seeds like the angel's trumpet seem to need prechilling only if they are stored seed.

See, every time you make a pronouncement about a plant or seed it makes a liar of you. ;D

[Bon]

I don't even like poppies...lol, just didn't know what to do with them. ;D

[lavender]

That's the way it usually is, if you don't like it it grows but if you really want it to grow it won't.

My poppies are the old fashioned red ones. My husband brought them home as a bag of dried up roots. I put them in the ground just to humor him. They were off and running within weeks and come up every year. They are pretty for a week and that is the end of them for the rest of the summer. A good hard rain beats them down to the ground. They aren't the best of plants other than nothing seems to kill them and nothing eats them.

[Bon]

ok, got a question. After the flowers died off, a kind of fuzzy thing is growing, where the flowers were. What is this, a seed pod? It's neat looking. I never grew Canna's before, so I'm a little stupid when it comes to this flower. I'm still getting blooms on the other one's.

[Petee]

It's probably a seedhead.

 

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/37506/index.html

[lavender]

You might want to remove seeds and spent flowers from the cannas to encourage more flowers. I can't imagine wanting to grow them from seed, unless you are interested in hybridizing, when they multiply so rapidly from tubers. Here is what a seed pot looks like.

[Bon]

So, you are saying I should clip the stem off right below the pods. Just like dead heading flowers.