H ow do you get cannas to grow up here in the Ozarks Z6? I've mulched them and had one bunch last over one winter. but have never been able to repeat my success.
Vickie

I feel ya. I just ordered canna"Milk Festival"(and oh yeah,9 jap.irises). Didn't need them but I "HAD" to have them.My daughter bought me 75 gladiola bulbs for my birthday. While doing my new foundation planting at the front of the house(2/5 gal river birch,9/2 gal.compacta hollies,4/1 gal.purple leaf loropetalums....so far),I dug up about 50 daff bulbs and wondering where to plant/re-plant all of it. And just when you think it's safe to open the mailbox....Here's Waysides new catalog w/ hydrangeas"Lady in Red",new dwarf gold leaf oaklief"Little Honey" and big leaf mophead"Sun Goddess"....not to mention the new caladiums "Bicolor" and "Thai Beauty". My hands shake as I dig frantically for the last cc statment to see how much is left on my credit line...wondering all the time if hubby will miss a couple of guns out of the gun safe and checking the clock to see if that darn pawn shop is open yet.

Addiction? Nah! Just because I have some nice decorative blouders in my yard(ROCK!),I run out each day to check the progress of a new flower(BUD!)and am constantly looking at plant combination for my containers(POT!)doesn't mean I have a problem.*BSG*

PP

Growing Cannas in zone 6 can be "iffy" if you winter them over in the ground. I've done well nby piling rotted sawdust over the patch, about 6-8 inches deep AND covering over that with a waterproof tarp. Excess rain and cool temps are what do mine in in the winter by rotting them. This past Fall, I felt energetic enough to dig them and put them in a barrell in the storm cellar, where they are allready sprouting. My Glads have been in the ground for ten years now, and I only dig them to spread them around.
Strong

After the first frost I cut the foliage of my cannas down and leave it lay on the bed. They come back every year. But they are next to the house and on the south side. You maybe just to far north to leave in the ground.
Glads do fine in the ground here also.
Saw that wayside catalog and am drooling over it. Have to get to walmart to check out the canna.
If the daffies need a home send them here. You can never have enough daffies, hycanith, and sedum. Judy

Boy, you're lucky to find variegated-leaf cannas at WM! I'm jealous! just kidding. I had to order them on the internet because I couldn't find any rhizomes at nurseries in my area. HomeDepot/ Lowe's only sell the common varieties, so I good for you!

Vickie,

I too am able to overwinter cannas on the south side. This will be their third year and some of them are already a foot tall. They are in full sun up next to our brick house, and I've already had to thin them out (last year). Since I am considerably north of you, I'm wondering where you have them planted, that they don't perform better for you. Please post your situation and maybe we can help.

I'm actually waiting to see if I have some Tropicanna come back up on the east side (full morning sun) in the same spot where I have repeat showings of crinum (milk&wine) lily. (Or as my mother likes to call them back in ETX, "monster bulbs"!! :D )

Leesa

You're a bad influence Helen. I might've walked right by the bulbs if you hadn't told us about the variegated cannas. I found a bag of Pretoria to add to the cannas I'd already gotten this year. I bought the assorted bag when they first got their bulbs in at Wal-Mart and have those in peat to get them started early. They're sticking up a few inches above the peat now and one of them has burgundy leaves. I just thought it would be fun to see what I get. At least they're not all the same.
Are you going to be able to make more garden space Helen? Those cannas are going to multiply ya know.
I hadn't seen Lady in Red yet Peggy. You're a bad influence too. Did you notice there is actually a ladyinredhydrangea.com. It has it's own website! I need one.

Just looking back at this post to find the name of the variegated canna - - Pretoria. Mine are still under two feet tall and they haven't bloomed. How are yours doing Helen? Did anyone else buy them? I spaced mine pretty close together (about 10 inches apart) so maybe the other cannas are just crowding them out. Anyway - I've been disappointed in those. My other cannas have been blooming for quite awhile now.

I planted a smallish Pretoria rhizome from Jung Seed in mid-May, it was advertised 'minimum 1 - 2 eyes'. It has 5 stalks, the largest bloomed for the first time roughly 2 weeks ago, the foliage is 3' tall, the flower stalk is just over 4', and that's somewhat shorter than advertised. It probably takes a couple years to attain the mature size. A couple more shorter stalks will probably bloom sooner or later this year, and the smallest ones are just a foot or so tall. It's definitly a little shaded and crowded by a taller canna, but I don't think they care too much so long as they get adequate water and fertilizer. For a canna, 'adequate' water seems to be daily flooding, particularly in this heat and drought we've been having.

I put the cannas against the house 10" apart too, and tucked 4 new roses bushes in between in a new raised bed. The idea was for the cannas to break up and dry the heavy clay until the earthworms could work in the soil amendments. It's a jungle, but it's working, and nothing minds being so over-crowded so long as there's lots of water.

Cannas are iffy in zone 6 and even in zone 7. After the first frost that damages the leaves, cut the stalks down. I would advise that you not leave the foliage lying on the ground nor compost it. Bag it and let it be hauled off. Leaf rollers are a common problem on cannas, and there could be eggs on the foliage. Letting it lie on your property all winter could begin your next season with an abundance of these annoying varmints.

If you really want to leave your cannas in the ground over winter, find a well-drained sunny area for them. The warmest spot in your gardens with the best drainage will help prevent the rhizomes from absorbing water, freezing and then rotting. Use LOTS of mulch as a blanket.

We had a very harsh winter here a couple of years ago. And I lost many of my special cannas. The ones that survived were planted on the South side of my house on a hill. The water drained well and it was sunny. And those cannas got over 7 ft tall that spring.

Good luck with your cannas.

NancyAnn

The ones I got from Wal-Mart are in an old galvanized tub and a plastic 24 inch pot. I used Expert Perfect Mix for the potting mix and I have watered them through all of this dry weather. I wouldn't say they are very tall, but they are very pretty. They have orange flowers, but the foliage is what is attractive. I also have the tropicana. These are the same size. I wouldn't care if they had no flowers. If we have a cold winter, they probably won't make it through the winter. My tropicanas made it through last winter with lots of leaves piled on them.

Yours must be doing better than mine Helen because I haven't gotten to see any blooms yet. I only put a slow release fertilizer on them once after I planted them but have watered them a lot. Maybe they needed more fertilizer. My other cannas in the same area seem happy. It seems like I had to do some searching to find the Pretoria bulbs at Wal-Mart so they might have been picked over. I can't remember if the bulbs were small. If I can get them to winter over, maybe they'll do better next year. I discover when googling that Pretoria and Bengal Tiger are the same.
Butterflychaser - I'm glad to see you posting in the Ozarks forum. : ) I was thinking I should dig my favorite cannas and leave the others in the ground and mulch them. Would be just my luck though to lose the ones I dig and have the others come back next spring. lol