I'm a newbie to gardening and this forum has been so helpful! Especially the canna info as I have been collecting canna seeds over the past few weeks. I visit with clients daily about gardening stuff and I cant wait to send them here for info!!! Thanks people!

You won't lose them. You're in a zone where you may be able to grow them all year, depending on your winter. Cannas continually produce new stalks which will bloom even tho old stalks may be exhausted. Here, we cut the cannas down when a frost kills the foliage, which was just in the last week or two. Do you get frost? I wouldn't cut the foliage until the last possible minute. It will continue to absorb energy for the rhizomes. Throughout the season, as old stalks finish blooming (each stalk may have two or three flushes of blooms), you can trim down the old stalks so new stalks can take in nutrients and sunlight. You can cut the stalks to about an inch tall. Don't worry, you're not going to hurt the cannas. In fact, in your zone, they may be "weeds" for you someday. Believe me, if I haven't killed them here in zone 7, with my neglect, they're safe with you. LOL

You can plant them anytime. I've started them indoors around December, and by late February or early March they go outside. I also get seedlings popping up all by themselves at any given time of the year. I have to go around and pick them from the flower beds. If you want them to grow fast, i would put them in the ground as soon as possible. They are EXTREMELY fast growers and you can get large plants within a month or two.

When the seed pods are completely brown and dry and can be easily divided. However, note that the majority of cannas grow from bulbs and most are hybrids and either sterile or won't breed true. Just something to keep in mind. ;) Check out the previous discussion linked below for more details. Here is a link that might be useful: Canna seeds discussion