bloom will probably be in this order: shirley (spring to mid summer), california (mid spring to fall) and oriental poppies sown this year will bloom next year (early summer).

Tim, I knew if you found my post you could provide a long list! How cold did you get last winter? My lowest was 18F, and my Alpinia was not able to bloom yet again. I have tried more than a few Kaempferias here and they just aren't hardy enough. I had a Globba schomburgkii a few years ago and it failed to survive its first winter. I have tried and lost both Curcuma zedoaria and 'Emperor'. I do have an unknown Curcuma, I received in trade, thats lasted for 4 years now. My only Alpinia is japonica, which is very hardy overall, but gets zapped by late cold every year. That Hedychium I mentioned five days ago, that was close to blooming, opened its first flowers today. It is always way ahead of my others, yet I have no idea what it is. I suspect it has some H. coccineum blood in it, if its not that outright. Has narrow foliage, with dark orange, non fragrant flowers. I ordered it from Stokes as H. spicatum 'White Wings', but as soon as it bloomed I realized it was not. Tim perhaps you could provide an ID. Here it is... Here is a link that might be useful:

sarabell - Not to diminish your trust in the Lowes guy, but he probably doesn't know squat! Unless Lowes was lucky enough to snag a true gardener or nursery person, the clerks read the backs of the packages just like anyone else and probably have far less knowledge (or interest)than yourself. I would be shocked if the canna is safe to 4. I have had one survive the winter here, and I was astounded. I am a transplant from zone 8 myself. The good news is the canna survived in a protected spot directly beside the foundation of my house by a basement window. The bad news is I now know just about how much heat loss I must have had at that locatioan from my basement! We have been renovating and have since fixed that "problem" (as hubby would view it). My experience in having lived in some borderline zones is that a key factor if the ground usually doesn't freeze is that the cannas not sit in a really wet area during winter because that area may then freeze. I lost some even in a zone 7 that way! Last year I planted directly to the ground in April and to my shock and surprise I had blooms by July 4. I wish I remember what I did. I do like to push the envelope on putting them in the ground. I do put mulch quite heavily over them, and they are in very sunny locations. I am suspecting it has to do with sun reflection on the hillside, plus off some adjacent items (electrical box, etc) in addition to the mulch that helped them along (making that area slightly warmer than the rest of the garden). Rock or plant proximity to rock can really heat up the area also - though keep in mind that digging anything into or out of rock would be a nightmare! I dig up basket loads every fall. My very favorite is the President. The one that I have the most of is the tall red variety I see across Iowa with the tiny flowers. This was a gift to me that I do not know the name of. I am limiting how many of these that I dig up now and will concentrate on other shorter varieties with larger blooms like the President. My President doesn't put out the volume of roots to store that the other does, but I suspect that is simply because the roots are smaller. Last year I had a red/yellow garden by the house and flag. This year I'm working on pink through red tones with an occasional yellow highlight as an addition to my drive. I'm putting out some Lady Di's (pale salmon maybe? hints of yellow throat? not sure but I can hope) that I found in Wal-Mart in Ohio on my way back from TN. Also, another short yellow variety to use elsewhere. I like to dig mine up in the fall once the leaves have wilted some from cold. I hose them off and dry them outside on the ground. Once really dry, I purchased laundry net bags from Dollar General and hang them from nails on the floor joists so that air circulates well. I think canna growing is the best thing on earth. However, I must admit that being new to zone 5, it is quite the pain to have so much work in the fall. That is why I will concentrate only on the babies that I truly love! OH! One question to all you canna lovers. I had my President in a raised bed around my flag pole and had an interesting problem. I know you've seen leaves that don't quite unfurl properly or rip when unfurling. This entire bed had that problem. I would say 65-70% had the problem and the leaves looked rather ragged. Fortunately this was not visible from the drive or the road, but only to me when I walked the garden. There was no bad effect on the flowers, which were absolutely great. Any ideas out there?

Susan, If you are positive that you are not overfeeding them with a high-nitrogen fertilizer that encourages foliar growth at the expense of flowers, then I can think of two possibilities: 1) In zone 7 and colder zones, variegated hydrangeas often do not bloom and the reason why is our often erratic weather. (Big surprise there.) Variegated hydrangeas tend to start forming their flower buds too early--during warm spells during what is, essentially, still winter here. Then, colder weather returns, and the tiny buds freeze off, generally before you ever even noticed buds had formed, and thus ends your plants' chances for blooming that year. In zone 8 and warmer, where the weather is less erratic and late cold spells are more rare, variegated hydrangeas tend to bloom somewhat more consistently. That's my best guess for why they aren't blooming. Most people in zones 7 and colder who plant variegated hydrangea plant it primarily for the lovely foliage and, in the few years they get blooms, consider the flowers a bonus. 2) The other possibility is that you are pruning them at the wrong time--after buds have begun to form (even if you can't see them yet), and are cutting off the potential buds/flowers. Knowing our erratic climate like I do, I feel like #1 is the most likely possibility. It will be interesting to see what the experts at the Hydrangea Forum say. Dawn