It looks like a canna, though your picture is very small.

I feel rather dim witted right now. I never thought about the water being the culprit in making the leaves brown. I had the same problem with my "lucky bamboo" and had to start letting my water sit out for a day or two before I watered it to get the chemicals to evaporate before watering it. Makes sense if they are in the same family. For some reason it seems to love the south window. It gets plenty of light in the morning but shaded in the evening. But sadly if it is going to get much taller I will have to move it. It is in a hanging pot I made for it. And I don't think I have to worry about over watering it, it is a very thirsty plant! But thanks for the watering idea, I never thought about it.

purple, apparently it blooms from late spring until frost. I don't think I have a "full sun" place to put anything that short.... Well, maybe, if I could find red or white. dirt_farmer, the Canadian coin got into the picture because I asked above for a photo showing the scale of the plant ("ruler, coin, etc."). The OP is Canadian; I'm not -- and from purple's comment and location I assume she isn't either. AFAIK, I never saw that particular coin before, so I checked online (Canada coin "polar bear") to find its diameter.

Alright great! Thanks for the info. Can I control them with just the usual dish soap/water spray? Or do they require something different? If you know. Also, do thrips do any substantial damage to garden plants? Because there are TONS of them seemingly always buzzing around out there and will relentlessly bite my arms and legs.