Planting cannas can produce plants from three to six feet tall with outstanding, colorful blossoms. If you have a bit of space to allocate for growing cannas and are looking for plants that are easy to grow then cannas are perfect. Planting cannas is not at all difficult and most people can successfully grow them and are pleased with the results. To get you started, we will look at cannas, planting cannas, care requirements and harvesting rhizomes.
Cannas
After planting cannas, you can enjoy their blooms all summer through the first winter frost. There are several varieties, which generally have large, long flat and broad shaped leaves. They have decorative foliage, which comes in variegated colors, reddish-purple, bronze or green shades. Blossoms are flashy, large four to six inch spikes in colors of white, yellow, cream, orange, salmon, pink or red. Some flowers also come with speckles adding another dimension not found in many flowers.
Planting Cannas
When planting cannas select healthy rhizomes with a minimum of two growing eyes on each. To get the most beautiful plants and blooms possible choose a sunny location in the yard. Full sun and plenty of summer heat for cannas provides a real show. Planting cannas in too shady of an area can result in disappointment.
Planting cannas requires well-drained soil. Cannas will not do well in water soaked areas. If you find the perfect sunny location and the soil quality is poor amend it with compost until you can get well-drained soil.
Depending upon what variety you select, dig holes about one to two feet apart. When planting cannas, rhizomes should be placed about four to six inches below the soil. Lay each rhizome down in the soil lengthwise, with the eyes pointed upwards towards the sky.
Cover the rhizomes with soil and place two to four inches of mulch on top. Cannas rhizomes don’t like to be water soaked, but they do prefer moist soil. Mulching will help the soil to retain a moist condition throughout the summer.
Canna Care
After planting cannas, water thoroughly. In a couple of weeks, you will see plant sprouts. Water cannas frequently throughout the spring and summer, but don’t over soak them or let them dry out entirely.
Canna plants only require fertilizing with a multi-purpose fertilizer once each spring and again in the summer.
Harvesting Canna Rhizomes
In some areas of the country, it is possible to winter over cannas with heavy mulching. Most people are not able to keep rhizomes in the soil over the winter because of freezing temperatures.
At the end of the summer, when plants quit blooming, remove old blossoms. As the season changes and the leaves turn yellow, cut the stems off. Continue watering until it frosts. Dig the rhizomes up, remove loose dirt and let them dry indoors. Store the canna rhizomes away for the winter in an area of 50 degrees or less (not freezing) in a paper bag or cardboard box.
Plant the rhizomes that you saved over the winter when the danger of frost has past. Cannas multiply like crazy and before you know it, you’ll have plenty of rhizomes to share with neighbors. Try planting cannas for yourself and you are sure to be pleased with the results.
