Canna ~2013~

The gauntlet is down Joolz ! Can anyone beat 61 Cannas ?

 

Armandii will beat it

 

Nah, you are exaggerating. Its only half of Suffolk If I owned half of Surrey I'd be rich

 

I reckon I probably grow more than that, not counted them though ... must have about half a dozen, maybe 10?, clumps of C. warscewiczii probably 5 or 6 in each clump, and a dozen?? other varieties of 3 or 4 each?

 

Sorry kristen,blame it on the wine i went out for bday tea treat im a whoozy at mo xx

 

I've wrapped up the other half of Suffolk for you as a birthday present. Happy Birthday

 

Tell me Joolz....what plans do you have in place for overwintering your new found "family" of cannas? , full conversion of your house to a tropical house?, or perhaps a new greenhouse?, something along the lines of Kew's Tropical House perhaps ,

 

FWIW I have a set of trays (that I bought quite cheaply off eBay from a nursery that no longer needed them), I put all my Cannas and Dahlias in those and stack them up in the garage ... only take up the space of the foot print of one tray.

However, you then have the problem of starting them off in the Spring ... they won't grow very well in a single stack :(

I put some newspaper in the bottom of the tray, then some compost with the Cannas / Dahlias and stick them in the conservatory to kick-start.

However ... its quite a lot of work at this time of the year when I'm busy with seed sowing. So I am thinking that next year I will put the compost in when I store them in the Autumn, then its just a question of adding water and warmth to start them off (about now).

Cannas and Dahlias will mostly do OK outside if the winter is not one that breaks records :( with a decent mulch. I think they are slower to start in the spring, and need plenty of slug pellets, and it is important that drainage is OK - as it is "cold and wet" that kills the tubers, rather than just cold per se.

 

Problem solved,seen as im going to be kristens neighbour i will pop them round to his place

 

Can you lift cannas that have overwintered in the garden, split them up and replant? The reason I ask is that some of mine have been in for a couple of years now and the ground is quite hard now. So I want to lift then replant in some better soil.

 

One of my methods a few years ago was to lift the canna roots in Feb and divide, then pot up in the greenhouse, to plant out later.
You get the best of both worlds, no cluttering up the greenhouse in Oct/Nov, but getting an early start under glass, ready to plant out in May.

 

Hi Dorothy , actually is the best think to do , as we all start them indoor , ready to go back in the ground in may , dig them out and divide ...pot them , watering and close them in a plastic bag to start them .

like that

 

I have some plastic crates that stack up,could i use them and store in the attic maybe? i keep my empty plant pots in them usually

 

Yes, only proviso being that many modern attics are insulated above the ceiling, so the space above ceiling, and below roof, is uninsulated and can thus get very cold. If you attic get warmed by heat escaping from the ceiling below it should be fine.

Stick a Max/Min thermometer in there for the rest of March and see what the Min is that you get maybe? should give a good indication of how it compares to the Min that you actually get "outside"

Also need to watch out for the weight that your attic can hold - depends how substantial the joists are A stack of trays full of damp soil is going to weigh a bit - but of course you could spread them about, to spread the weight, rather than put them all in a single stack

 

Hi Mowgley ....
planted mine last sunday and got 5 thai canna already out and 3 new zealand cannas out as well .......