I have them growing, in the little place I have in Florida. They bloom just about the time I leave to come back up to Canada. They look just so unique. Some people have them naturalized in my area. It is a sight to see , for sure Thanks for the photo. What I have been doing the past two years, when digging up the tropical bulbs to store indoors, over winter. Is to pot them in old plastic window boxes, one of my daughters gave to me, that she never used. I pot them in a good light potting mix, dry. Then when I get back from Florida, end of April, usually, I just carry all the window boxes outside, in a sheltered spot, water them and maybe cover them if there is frost, then once they send up shoots, I take them out and put them into the garden or large pots or whatever. It works well, and I get flower earlier. This year my Dahlias and Cannas, look very good.

This string of posts makes me a little sad, although there are points of hope scattered through it. Many folks have good friends on the garden forums, and most -- but admittedly not all -- people who post comments are intending to teach, to learn, to share a common interest and to share a laugh. When they disagree, there's often a hearty back and forth -- particularly when you have long-standing forum relationships. In such cases, if you get into a flame war, you have at least some sense of the person you're responding to and the friends you're defending. And the person you flame today may be the person who chimes in on your side tomorrow. In this case, there seems to be a disturbing disconnect to me -- a split in focus between to responses to Gayfeather's comments on people's taste in flowers and his outrage regarding other comments on people's taste in partners. As beautiful and important as flowers are to many forum regulars, I think that people should try to keep in mind that no one was ever beaten up for liking "peasant" sunflowers over gladiolas. And I also believe that most, if not all of the original posts that upset Gayfeather came from a place without serious ill will. A place where you may be talking in stereotypes (whether seriously or comically), but there's no harm intended because you're talking about a "good" stereotype -- you know: "those" people are really good at basketball, "those" people are really good at math, or "those" people are really good with money. The funny thing is, not everyone would fill such blanks in the same way. More importantly, no matter how you fill them in, they wouldn't be universally true. And before anyone who was ever in a group of "those" people pipes up with a "yeah, you tell them!", people who are in such groups often enjoy toying with the "good" stereotypes themselves. When you're on the outside, it's insensitive, maybe bigoted behavior. But when you're doing it within the group, it's just an inside joke against the schmucks on the outside. And, as a practical matter in daily life, when you're in one of "those" groups, sometimes playing to a stereotype can just be so much easier. Other folks can get even more upset or confused when you frustrate their expectations. It's less confrontational to say, "Why thank you, I AM good at math," instead of "Well, actually I nearly flunked out of high school because I can't do simple algebra, but thank you bringing up those painful memories." It's a big wide world out there filled with all sorts of people in it. Broad categories, stereotypes and other general assumptions about how the world usually works may make it a little easier to make your way through it. Even so, I guess all I am saying is that even if you think a certain stereotype is a "good" one, other folks might not think so -- and, of equal importance, it might not be true or even partially true with respect to the person in front of you. So try to keep a watchful eye, and when possible, try to see the real person behind the assumption. That's it. I'm off the soapbox now. Thanks. Oh yeah . . . one more thing: For the record, I really do prefer "peasant" sunflowers to gladiolas, and there's no harm in mixing styles from time to time -- so bring it on! :)

They do fine but take a long to to get going. We've had them in the pot for a month already. Also, grow them in a pot so you can bring them in later in the season as a house plant if it hasn't bloomed. We have cool nights even in summer and put the pot in the greenhouse on some nights to keep the plant active. Not as much of an issue if you are in a lower altitide of Alberta or into the eastern prairies. Re the price on that page. A bit steep. They are a third that at the box stores and you can examine the root to make sure it's full and healthy.

I've had good luck with Curcuma elata and Amorphophallus bulbifer. Both stay dormant all winter when kept bone-dry in my cool attic and don't sprout until I start watering them in the spring. The Curcuma is especially nice for growing in the ground as a foliage plant; I keep the A. bulbifer in a pot. Achimenes species and hybrids make nice bedding plants for a shady area and produce small scaly rhizomes in the fall that will stay dormant as long as they are kept dry. Begonia sutherlandii is a half-hardy tuberous species that hasn't been reliably hardy for me in zone 7, but is easy to keep dormant indoors. Although it keeps its leaves Cycas revoluta stays more or less dormant in the winter, as long as it's kept cool; it doesn't produce any new leaves until I can put it outdoors in the spring (leaves produced indoors will always be weak and etiolated unless you can give it full sun). The main problem with this species is that it eventually gets quite large.