It looks like several of these sources are now offering Spring orders.

I had a situation with Eden Brothers where I ordered and the following is what happened...bulbs were in tact...one already had a shoot growing ..one bulb died the other grew seemingly healthy but started to show stunted growth then disease came about and mind you this plant was among my at the time 13 other cultivars which were thriving so I had to place this plant into quarantine...later I also realized it wasn't what I ordered so I called to rectify this problem and they agreed to send another order next season which will be this spring...we'll see what happens.

I trust Karchesky and Plant Delights for virus free cannas. I trust Brian Botanicals but have not bought cannas from him.

Thank you all for your responses. I'm very glad that you shared your experience with Eden Brothers--scratched them off of my list.

My basement overwintering hasn't been going too well thus far. The bulbs looked good with weekly spraying or watering, but reading how others rarely water theirs through the winter, I felt brave enough to let them all go without any water for a month. Apparently that was a mistake for my particular conditions. Pretty much all of them shriveled up, and less than half appear to have recovered, while the rest has rotted. I'd bought two bulbs of each variety hoping that at least one would make it, but didn't bother trying two different "treatments" for them to make it a better "experiment." In any event, both of the Pretoria/Bengal Tigers and both of the Yellow Kind Humbert look like goners, and I'm not too confident about Australia. Hopefully the remaining two varieties (Red King Humbert and Wyoming) will make it. I'm wondering now if I shouldn't have just potted them all up and let them grow through the winter.

A few years ago I left some unplanted tulip bulbs in the basement, and earwigs ate them to dust. Was afraid that the same thing might happen with these canna bulbs, but as it turns out the watering/storing thing is the tricky part here.

have you considered planting outside in a sheltered spot and protecting them over the winter?..2 green ones came back and bloomed for me..then last summer I put 2 Tropicanas in there too..if you look closely you can see a canna between the banana closest to the top of the pic and the one below it..the other canna is on the other end above the pot..it's blocked by the hydrangea..I cut and cover the tropicals with garbage bags full of oak leaves for the winter..

I'm planning on trying that next winter, but probably only with half of whatever bulbs I have by that time. This winter I was debating whether to plant them all, plant half, or store all in basement, and by the time I got all the bulbs, we had our first freze so it was kinda decided for me. In hindsight, never having had canna before, I shouldn't have made the very experience be trying to keep dormant bulbs alive through the basement winter, but didn't think it would be hard and wanted to have bulbs ready to go come Spring. Hope these remaining few bulbs make it so that it hopefully wasn't a complete waste of money and time. A forum member has generously offered to share some of his bulbs in the Spring, and I'm glad to have it as an option.

Your bananas look cool :) Have thought about trying them too, but probably not anytime soon.

That is very cool indeed! They look to be stretching for that sun :) The trunks look to be in quite a bit of shade. I don't think I'd have enough room for bananas right now...but maybe if/when we start working on the backyard.

Gardening was easy when it was just a few plants...and the yard looked just fine. But seeing and wanting to try "this and that" turns into an addiction. Now the flower beds are stuffed and yet that doesn't seem to deter anyone from getting more :P

if my bananas never get as large I'm fine with that..my side yard is narrow and if the bananas are too big it could be a little tight..the bananas add so much atmosphere..that area wasn't exactly planned..the first banana was a gift..then some bargain cannas..then I bought 2 more bananas..elephant ears as a gift..now I have a tropical sideyard :-)

Nicole, I dont know what you mean by "follow me so we can talk off the forum".

Hi Popmama,

What I meant was that I can message you and you can message me when we follow the other person by clicking the follow link on their page. This way I can talk to you (kind of like Facebook messaging) a little more in depth than here on the forum. Hope this helps :)

Nicole

You can set your messaging to allow messages without following. Profile - advanced settings - Who can message me - Allow anyone to message me.

The issue with private messaging is that the information doesn't benefit everyone who reads the forums. But I guess it just depends on what you want to share.

I appreciate the information about the sellers you recommend. I will check them out as I am wanting to buy Stuttgart.

Oops! Looks like I had those settings in place already. Unfortunately I ran into issues trying to message folks in the past and the only way we were able to get around it was to follow each other.

I have had bad experiences with several suppliers. If I didn't list them in previous posts as ones that I would recommend then I have either: a) never shopped there before or, b) shopped there and won't go back. As for details, I won't get on the forum with all the gory details. Suffice it to say I had a bad experience, be it virus or otherwise. Additionally, before I trash a vendor with my negative review, who knows, maybe they've cleaned up their act. Unlikely but, it could happen. If someone wants to know specifics, then we can chat off the forum.

Nicole

2020 ordered a Tropical Sunrise from Horn. The bulb was very healthy with sprouts and the canna came right up. However, the leaves were very mottled with a virus. There were no streaks just very bad mottling. The company said they could not find a live canna in their greenhouse that would suit me meaning they were all infected. They kindly refunded my money and shipping.

I think Horn is very upfront about the struggles of canna virus. They sell great tubers at a great price, so if you’re looking for a larger planting and using them as annuals it might be a good option even if they are infected. They just wont look good when the going gets tough, such as drought or poor soil. Actually they’ll probably look like the ones I see for sale at the box stores...

Thank you for the updates (I had to reset my password to be able to respond...couldn't remember the old one to save my life...it has been a while since I was last on here!). Sad to hear that Horn hasn't been able to clean up their stock.

Well it's been two years since my first attempt at cannas (which was to overwinter a purchase of rhizomes that I never saw/enjoyed in bloom)...and I did end up losing all of them through the winter. Was going to take up the kind member on his offer to share some of his virus-free bulbs, but have not done it yet. The perennials in my yard "exploded" and took over the area that the cannas were gonna go in, and I'm still trying to free up some space. Maybe next year! Hope you guys and your plants are doing well this year with Corona and all. I have missed being on here, but had so much going on in the past two years that I just couldn't. Thank you to both of you for getting me to sign back in 😊😊