Gardening with Gary

Gardening Advice from an Expert

Canna Lilies

Cannas for the Summer:

Plant the Canna Lily rhizomes to a depth of 5-6". I have found any less and the leaf and flower stalks do not have enough support in the soil to hold up in a breeze, thus toppling over. Any deeper, and they do not bloom enough, as they are so far down, say 8" that they struggle to get up to the soil line.

It is especially worrisome if you have heavy or clay soil. The denser the soil, the harder task the sprouts have growing. Loosen any garden bed with peat moss, blood meal, bone meal, compost and/or leaf mold. It not only enriches, but allows for easier penetration.

Water heavily all summer long, cut off any dead flower stems and feed plentifully until the fall, when they should be cut back and dug up in non-frostfree climates until spring. There are 25+ species, coming in red, purple, yellow and combinations.

Check for full info and color pic: http://pss.uvm.edu/pss123/bulcanna.html

Lisa writes~ Can Cannas be transplanted to another location successfully? I have some in a bed that did great and others that I planted one by one with a bulb planter that aren't even blooming.

A. I merely cut back the leaves to about 6", dig the tubers, shake off excess soil, and place them in a burlap bag. I hang the bag in a crawl space of my home, where the temperature stays around 50 degrees, and bring them out in March to get them started indoors. The soil left on the tubers helps to keep them from drying out, and hanging the bag gives ventilation.

The cited nursery has this alternative method:

Once the plants do get slightly frosted, cut the stalks down to about 4" in height. The stalks can be chopped for the compost bin, and then the plants get gently dug out of the ground. The "bulbous" roots are very tender and deceiving. Make sure you dig far enough away from the stalks to get all of them when you do go to dig them up. Too many times, I've misjudged the distance and sliced right through a prized root.

Next, lay them out on the driveway and blast some of the soil off them with the garden hose. Be sure to separate them by color when you dig them as it is very difficult to determine what variety you are working with once they are dug. Spread them out on a floor and allow them to dry out for a few days. Turn them twice a day to allow them to dry. Otherwise, they may rot in storage. Once that is accomplished, take a large picnic cooler and spread a layer of tightly packed tubers across the bottom. Cover the m with dry peat moss, wood shavings or some similar material. Put another layer of tubers in and cover them, repeating this process until you have completely filled the cooler or run out of room.

Keep the cooler tightly closed and stored away in a cool basement. We don't heat it but the furnace is down there so it stays around 50 degrees F all winter. About mid winter I check to make sure everything is not dried up and occasionally I add a little moisture if the roots seem to be shriveling up a little, not too much though or they will rot or start to sprout!

About May 1st, they come out of storage and are ready to set out, depending on the predicted weather ahead. I like to get them in the ground about 10 days before the last frost. Of course if you have a cold frame you can force them in containers a bit earlier. Don't be concerned if they have sprouted a little in storage; that doesn't seem to hurt them. Just be careful when you separate them as you take them out of the cooler.

Assistance from: Hosta Nursery, Big Rock, Illinois