Thanks to your pictures, amalgamation, I was on the lookout for Intrique and much to my surprise picked up a nice large gallon pot with three stalks on for clearout for $3.00. The plant was in amazing shape. It is now planted in my garden and I'm watering alot. Hopefully I'll see blooms soon and they'll be exactly like your pics.

If you soak your canna seeds for 48 hrs. in a solution of half apple-cider vinegar, and half very hot water for 48 hrs., you will find that it is extremely easy to nick your canna seeds. What happens is that the natural acidic reaction of the vinegar wears off the hard outer coating so that if you just firmly rub the canna seed against any hard rough surface, like a brick, it can easily be removed. Also, it weakens the hard outer coating of the canna seed, making it easier for the embryo within to emerge. This is further discussed in a new group of people who are interested in learning how to hybridize new types of cannas from seeds. I can't post the link, but it's a new yaho group called Cannahybridizers. If you do a search, you can find it and join. There are lots of generous canna growers in the group who frequently give away seeds for the asking or for SASE.

Canna seeds are tough. For best germination, they should be nicked. To nick them, you can use a file, a grinder, or even a drill to drill into the seed a little. You just want to break the hard surface of the seed just enough to see a little bit of the creamy white interior of the seed. After nicking, soak the seed in water for a day or two. You should see the seeds swell as they soak up the water. Then plant in moist soil. Keep the soil moist and warm and your seeds will sprout. If started early, like during winter in a greenhouse, cannas grown from seeds can bloom the first year. However, the seeds from the hybrid cannas do not produce plants like the parent plant. They usually revert back to the small flowered type with traits of both the wild canna and the parent. Once in a great while, you may get lucky and a viable canna will grow from one of those seeds, but it doesnt happen often.

The best time to divide cannas is in the spring as you are planting them. However, if you are digging them up later in the season for some reason, you may divide them then. They really arent picky. But it is generally best to divide when you know can replant them soon. Divide the rhizomes by cutting them into pieces containing one or more eyes (growing points).