Jangchub wrote:
On Sun, 03 Sep 2006 00:19:18 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"amyky123" wrote in message
...
Hello! I have some cannas that we planted this spring. They have done
beautifully, but I'm wondering how I need to winterize them. Some people
have said that they absolutely need to be dug and brought inside, some
people have said that they will do okay as long as we put several inches
of
mulch on top.
Also, we have a few different colors. There are some pink (almost a salmon
color), some red, and some yellow/orange. All of them have produced seeds
(I've got about 100 seeds already). I've read that they should be nicked
and
soaked in warm water for several days, until the root sprouts. Is there
anything
specific I need to do until spring? Do I keep them in a cool place, dark
place,
etc?
I'm near Louisville, I think we're zone 6.
Any suggestions?

What Jangclub said is correct. But, if your cannas are planted next to
something that retains heat, like the foundation of your house, you *might*
get away with leaving them in the ground. What's the point, though? If you
take care of the rhizomes by bringing them indoors, they get better and
better each year. Why risk killing them?


When I lived up on Long Island, USDA Zone 6b, I had cannas on a south
wall, which was white and they always came back...till one year we had
sustained temperatures in single digits and the ground froze for a
month. The rhizomes collapsed and turned into mush. So, it all
depends on the average low.


first thing, what you heard about growing seeds of canna are true.
There was a tornado that ripped though Nashville a few years ago. my
former boss, who had a large clump of my daddy's old fashioned "Indian
shot" green leaf, red flowered, (about 14 foot tall when happy and
mature) canna's that I'd dug her up years previous. When the tornado
devastated downtown and then moved eastwards across the Cumberland
River, it tore through a neighborhood called Edgefield. My former boss
and garden friend lived in that area that got hit hard. The twister
winds tore down trees, changed the old neighborhoods dramatically and in
the process, sliced through the corner of her yard, destroyed the garage
and deck (missing the house totally even though the deck was attached to
that house.....) and kept on devastating. The following year, strangers
from down the road about half a mile or so in a radius were stopping by
her house which was at a major branching point. The people who stopped
had noticed her clump of canna's that were still on the corner of her
yard and they wondered if the reason they had canna's popping up in
THEIR yards were because they were seedlings from HER canna's. My
daddy's canna's wound up scattered, stratified by the harsh winds of a
tornado and debris, and dropped along the route where they landed in
humusey areas, germinated just fine and thrived and grew.

That was a bit drawn out but I thought I'd share.

If you're in zone 6, since your canna's are already planted, the
question is how deeply are they planted? You can actually plant the
plants deeper since you're already harvesting seeds. Cut the flowers off
and enjoy them, dig up the plants and put them two shovels deep into the
same spot, ammending the soil while you're at it. don't cut off the
leaves,(they'll provide more protection later on) but you can pile six
inches of mulch around the whole outside of the clump of the plants.
Once the frosts kill back the leaves, you can either put a bag of leaves
over each clump or throw some more mulch over the dead leaves as they'll
protect the rhizomes too. The two shovels deep rule daddy taught me was
usually the depth that freezing didn't get to in Nashville. I've dug up
my dad's canna's in the past, and they had actually pulled down deeper
than two shovels deep, they had gone as much as three. They never
froze, even when we had temperatures of -18 that held for over a week in
1984.

Since yours are growing good, don't panic, there's no need to dig them
up and bring them inside the garage. I have better luck with mine in the
ground. But if you've ever successfully wintered rhizomes or bulbs
through, then go ahead and do it that way. I know people who have no
problem and great success. There's a trick to it with peat moss, but as
good as I am, I'm not been successful and maybe someone can walk you
through the process who has had continual returns.

Just know there are choices and that yes, a little soaking, a nick or
actually just take some course sandpaper and scratch the seed a bit, and
toss them into nice rich pots of dirt and wintered outside, or throw
them in a spot you want them and put some leaves over the seeds and firm
in with your foot and next spring, when the ground has warmed to 76o,
you might find when you pull back the leaves carefully or checked the
pots (they were mulched with leaves too as protection against cold) you
might find seedlings of crossed cannas or exact babies of who they came
from. It takes perennials about three years from seed to bloom, it
would be fun to find out what you came out with. Keep us posted in what
you decide. That's have the fun of gardening!

madgardener up on the ridge, back in Fairy Garden where my Bengal Tiger
canna's and my daddy's old "Indian Shot" canna's are doing just fine in
the gray water bog which overlooks English Mountain in Eastern
Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36 (that's not to say that it never gets
cold here, in 1984 I was told it went down to -24o!!)