I am surprised at your experience, Karen. I have WS Canna seeds two years in a row and both were successful. I had about 50% germination with no soaking or nicking and perhaps it would have been better if I had done some pre-treatment. I wonder if it depends on the varieties sown. Mine were seeds I collected in Barbados and China, a little different from the varieties we regularly see here in the nurseries.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions everyone! I have forgotten to look at this post for some time. I usually spend most of my time in other garden forums such as "Tropicalesque", "Palms", "Far North" and "Utah gardening". Bearstate, I totally agree, cannas always look their best in clusters or large groups. You get that "shock value" of bold color in one spot. Larry, I wish I remember the name of the tall red cannas in the back with the burgundy leaves, but I don't remember! I know some of the shorter ones in that group are "Black Knight", but I don't remember what the really tall ones are. Sorry. In the second picture, the tall plants behind the flowering cannas are canna musafolia, or commonly known as banana canna. This grouping isn't the best picture of them because they were planted late (mid may). I had others planted that were much taller and better looking, that I planted earlier and gave more fertilizer to. If you happen to start the banana cannas inside in pots in March, if you transplant them outside and give them good sunlight, soil, water and fertilizer, you can get them to grown huge leaves and shoot up to 8-10 feet high in a good season. A lot of people mistake them for banana plants. They certainly grow alot quicker. The tubers on these plants can get quite large.

Linda, Thank you for asking. Yes, I confess. I love cannas. In my climate, there are only a few people I know that can leave them in the ground year round and I consider them magicians with microclimates. The rest of us must store them over winter somehow. I prefer not to dig mostly out of laziness. You are exactly right about the bubble pack and brown paper. Brown paper for darkness and bubble pack to provide some insulation since my garage is not heated. Once they all green up, I will pull out all the brown dead leaves from last year and clean them up. In late May, they will be able to stay outside all day. For now, the canna trolley it is. I also gave them some kelp water about every 3rd water. And this year, I gave them a sprinkle of milorganite because I read that it can give you huge cannas. I don't know all the variety names that I have. I never really kept track. I do know that I have Bengal Tiger which I bought last year and a yellow one called Harvest Yellow. I actually found that out by posting on this forum which was so fun! I have a red one, a hot pink one, and I have a dwarf variety as well. The pots are pretty full and I should probably divide. I did divide the yellow one last fall so I'm waiting to see how that turned out before dividing others. I don't have the best pictures of mine, but promise to try to get better photos this year. Harvest Yellow - photo taken August 2016 (this one blooms really late)

FWIW, there are more hybrids nowadays of the more common lantana camara that are not very fertile, and don't spread so easily. Grasses seems like a good idea for full sun, since they're rather low maintenance and more tolerant of dry soil, once established. They look 'beachy' too, IMO. I've been admiring the pale fountain grasses I see in many places around here - I think it's Pennisetum orientale. It seems easy to grow from seed too, since I often see volunteers. https://floridata.com/plant/767 And purple fountain grass is very handsome as well. https://floridata.com/plant/78 Floridata.com has lots of other good plant info, and you can search by features like shade or drought tolerance, etc. Here's their list of grasses: https://floridata.com/plants/grass And I like Ti plants too - super low maintenance, hard to kill, attractive and easy to propagate. When they start getting too tall and straggly, you can simply cut off the top and stick it in some water until it roots and plant it for more. The cut stem then usually sprouts several new side shoots.