This is an exciting year for me.... Before wintersowing, I used to spend so much money on geraniums (the annual geraniums) and would store them in my unheated garage for the winter. I would snip the blooms and keep them in their pots (or pot them up if they were in a huge planter) and hope for the best. I've always had pretty good luck, but worried all winter because they looked so "sad"... but would always perk up in the spring with a bit of warmth and some fertilizer. Now.... I am ready to put my geraniums away for the winter and this time I have about 25 MORE! I sowed geraniums from seed (inspired by another wintersower) and now I am not worried about them overwintering. Hey, if we get unusually cold weather and for some reason they don't last in the garage - I'LL SOW MORE next spring. Wintersowing forum... gotta love it!! Carrie

After frost kills the top I dig them and spray them off well with the hose and pull apart into more manageable chunks. Then I let them dry out in the garage for a week or so. Then they get wrapped in some crumpled newspaper and put in a paper bag or cardboard box. I keep them on the floor in the basement against the coldest wall. After doing this a few years I have found that the ones I leave pretty big and wait to divide more until spring do the best. The small individual ones (like the size you would buy) dry out. I have to divide it somewhat in fall though or I wouldn't have a bag or box big enough. I had a clump the size of two basketballs. Some years I have lightly misted inside the bags mid-winter, but I don't think it does much.

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?

I store mine at room temperature in any kind of packet after drying. Canna have a very thick seed coat. Don't forget to nick and soak before planting. The thickness of teh seedcoat has allowed canna to germinate successfully after being found 100's of years later! They were even rumored to germinate after being found in Eygptian tombs! That claim is false according to the web, but they have been able to germinate from very old seed. You'll do fine. Karen