hi Weenerdogg, What I and many others do for the bearded iris varieties, is dig, trim any excessively long roots, trim the foliage to about 4-6 inches, write right on the foliage itself with black magic marker or maybe a pen while the foliage is dry, wash any soil, weed roots or seeds off of them, check for critters, or disease/decay, and then wrap in newspaper once they have drained and dried a bit. Then ship Priority Mail, as it is not much more than Parcel Post, which no one ever knows how long that may take. Others may give other slightly different versions of how they handle them...all of which are probably right. Sue

hi sky I am interested in any canna you have with yellow flowers prefer a variegated leaf but green is fine i have ample Robert Kemp and an identical orange flower i do not know the name of,also i have much purple coneflower and rudbeckia. please email to Dhabermehl@iwon.com

Sorry about that. It is the Scot in me ( or as my wife says "the scotch in" me). LOL Wee means small. Cut off the small roots. If they are really huge, the larger ones CAN be cut after cleaning. IF you cut, the wound should be dusted with some sort of bulb and tuber dust ( a fungicide), as well as the rest of the rhizome. Personally, I like to keep the stock together, and divide in the spring, as I mentioned because I can more readily see which are viable sprouts. Store them in a dark, dry place about 55 degrees F. They don't like to be cold or they rot (I found that out the hard way), and they don't like to be hot or they sprout. The rest period is necessary though. By the way, the trimming of the roots, I usually do in the fall as it is easier to clean. However, many folks dig it up, and "park" the clump in the cool, dry spot until spring, and then do the trimming. Either time works well, but trimming in the fall allows for less space being used, if space is at a premium. It is definitely at a premium in my wee house, as I need space for my dahlia, and my 20 + brugmansia trees.

If they have curtailed blooming or you can see large clumps of rhizomes, then divide. Do it every year to two after that and a good time is a few weeks after the last bloom has faded.