IMHO .. grass is the single most invasive weed in the universe... yes.. not just earth ... i dont care what you do ... you will have grass popping up ... when .. NOT IF .... it comes back .... properly dilute a little roundup.. and either VERY CAREFULLY spray or brush it on anything that pokes through .... ITS NOT THAT BIG A DEAL >>> AND NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT ... you seem new to all this... i/we .. went through it all .... and the best advise i can give... is plan and work weeks in advance ... take an hour to look over your garden... and start making NEXT YEARS garden.. now .... so that when you have that new tree.. next spring... the bed is all ready for it ... the key is breaking the job into parts ... and doing it right the first time .... if you EVER decide to spray roundup .... give us a new post... or do a search .. the key is EXTREMELY LOW PRESSURE ... it isnt french perfume .... and a little practice on the driveway with plain water.. to learn your sprayer... before you go to the chemicals ... grass is near impossible to grow perfectly in the lawn .... but grows like the weed it is.. everywhere you dont want it... lol ... learn to deal with it properly ... BTW .... mulch does 3 things... reduce water evaporation ... cool the soil .. and most importantly ... covers weed seeds in the soil .... MOST weeds .. need sunlight to germinate ... NEVER .... if you can avoid it ... pulls weeds up with soil on the roots up through the mulch.. or you will bring the weed seeds to the surface ... and then .. you will have defeated one of the reasons you put down the mulch ...and that is why .. proper use of weed killer on top of mulch is to your advantage .. good luck ken

You would have more luck getting them started inside. You would not need a big pot just something big enough for them to fit in until they start growing. The warmer they are the faster they will start to grow. Our houses are usually warmer that 50-60 degrees. You want the soil to be damp, to get them started. In the summer most of my cannas if grown in full sun can be grown in bog condition which is soupy wet conditions. If you can get them growing good before May you can get flowers as early as July. This bloom time also depends on which canna you have. Some of mine bloom faster than others. Because our summers are so short I buy the cannas with colorful leaves and do not worry about the flowers. Some of the flowers really are not that spetacular or pretty anyway.

So here's an interesting note about my varigated dayflower find... someone on the "Name that Plant!" forum suggested it might be Tradescantia fluminensis 'Variegata' or Tradescantia albiflora. Both are often kept as hanging-basket houseplants, and get white dayflower-type flowers. Also, if they do not get enough light, the foliage will revert to green, and sometimes they throw green segments for no particular reason. Both are referred to as "wandering jew" on various websites, and mention that they do escape cultivation occasionally. I have never had them as houseplants so I'm still not convinced this is Tradescantia and not Commelina. I will wait to see the blooms. Even people who say they have encountered these as weeds have had people volunteer to take the "weeds" from them. The color is striking. I will grow as much of it as I can so I will have some to share! I'm thinking we shall all have to try to overwinter it in order to keep it from disappearing...

That's weird, Rita. I saw your other post about this yesterday, but it's gone today. ETA This one is cross-posted in Home Appliances, incidentally, in case you didn't mean to do that. When you post from the Houzz side, you have to check the whole tag list, because they'll add other ones for you unless you uncheck them.