crsliz, I think there are as many ways people store their Cannas as there are Cannas. I grow most of mine in pots and I bring the pots and all in to the basement after the frost takes the leaves down. I give the soil a good washing with the hose. The Temp in the basement is between 50 -60 degrees. There is very little light. I water my pots about a 8 oz glass of water once a month, Just enough so they do not dry out. They start to sprout in March and I usually can put a good size growing plant outside at the end of May. You have to experiment and see what works for you. I just do not have time to dig up plants so any tender plants I grow are grown in pots and are used on the Patio, and Deck.

Hello in Waterloo. I was going to suggest Thuja occidentalis 'Rushmore' which is compact and narrow and was bred for extremely harsh winters but it grows 12" a year heightwise. Are you definitely wanting to limit height as well as width? Wisconsitom, your hedge sounds very nice indeed. If you definitely want a low hedge, Thuja occidentalis (Arborvitae) 'Sherwood Frost' might also be nice. It has variegated white foliage, is globose and grows at the same rate as 'Woodwardii' so you could have a mixed hedge or choose one or the other. They will either be small or expensive or both however. Whereas, a 3 ft. 'Rushmore' could be had for about 36 USD which is what I paid for one a year ago just to use as a single specimen. Good luck.

I have planted several of them in various parts of my garden, and they have experienced benign neglect most of the time--no special winter treatment, fertilizer, etc. The soil here is a limestone soil and heavy clay for the most part. My plants are several years old now, and the largest is only about two feet tall. They were bare root when first obtained. All are in partial shade, two at the edges of informal planting areas under full-sized maple trees. One maple casts quite heavy shade, and that tree peony has remained quite small. The other maple tree casts dappled shade and is next to a neighbor's lawn which gets full sun all day; that one is probably the largest tree peony I have, and one of the youngest. That bed is slightly raised and mainly consists of organic matter. Another tree peony is in the center of an area of deep soil that used to be lawn. It did well initially and was larger than the others, but has suffered from the spring competition presented by a bleeding heart plant I established quite close to it. I have two on the berm of a small bank on the North side of my house; the one receiving the greater amount of sun is easily twice as large as the other one, even though they were planted at the same time. I have one in a shady place level with the ground that I had forgotten about--it is struggling a bit but still returns. Finally, one I planted in very poor soil with little preparation is still alive, but so far has not even flowered, and it certainly is not thriving. Therefore, I would say that they like a bit of a raised bed, or at least the organic matter you can put into one of those, and probably don't like wet feet or oxygen deprivation. I haven't done any special watering, but this is PA; we may get more rain than you. I have seen full grown tree peonies in the Hershey gardens. They were probably ten or so feet tall and looked a bit like broad, dwarfed trees with dark trunks. They were still sort of interesting after their spring bloom. I have also seen a few planted by gardeners in the area. They looked more like densely-leaved shrubs, from about five feet to eight feet in diameter. I think their leaf density could be partly because they were all in full sun, and also due to pruning. They all had a round shape. I have found a bit of judicious pruning can save problems. Apparently the little stalk that bears the previous season's flower dies, and can then be a source of fungus or other infection; that should be clipped off in early spring for that reason. Apparently Hershey had some fungus problems a few years ago with some of their old peony trees and they had to be removed. It can get quite humid here during the summer; possibly that was a factor. For that reason, though, you might want to see that your plants are not too crowded. All of my plants are protected from prevailing winter winds by my house, but there are a few not too far from where I live that do not have that sort of protection--although the owner might cover them in the winter; I haven't noticed for certain. A couple of my plants now usually have at least three large blossoms each spring. They are easily ruined by rain and don't last that long, but they are spectacularly beautiful, and I therefore am glad I have them; I look forward to them each spring.

Nightcrawler, Welcome aboard. It looks like you have the beginnings of a nice little tree. It looks very healthy. It appears to be quite young, so it may take another year or two before you see any flowers. Do you know if it was a rooted cutting or a seedling? As far as cutting any branches, I would leave it as is. Remember, when winter approaches, the plant will go dormant and drop it's leaves and growth will slow down or stop. When spring rolls around, it will wake up again. I would just continue as you're doing. Fertilize and water as needed and you'll have a beautiful tree. I'm sure others will chime in and give you additional advice. Good luck and happy growing. -Rick