Canna help

Hi - I live near Manchester and I bought some Cannas from a local independent nursery last summer as plants. They flourished in our garden, grew huge and had beautiful flowers all the way through to October. I cut them back before the first frosts and covered them in mulch and left them in situ all winter. However they’ve not started growing at all yet. I’ve even covered them with a cloche to help warm them up as the weather has been terrible and cold up here. I’ve dug down a bit and they don’t seem to have rotted. Am I just being impatient or should they have started to shoot by now? For into 2 are in sunny borders and 2 in large pots. We have a south facing garden. Any advice greatly appreciated

 

Hi and welcome to the forum,

We keep ours in large tubs and move them into a frost free greenhouse for the winter, have never risked them outdoors, though cold, think you are less likely to get the frosts your side of the hills.

Would just keep on doing what you have done so far as many of the perennial plants like your Cannas are still waiting to break up out of the soil due to the recent cold weather.

Perhaps add some slug protection like copper tape or egg shells etc as they will love the new Canna shoots.

 

It's not too late for them to shoot, but as Ricky101 says its been a cold winter and a cold spring.
I don't over winter outside because they are always late shooting and that means late flowering, and that way I can divide and bring on earlier potted up with some heat.

 

I would give it more time as they may well start shooting. I am in the South West and leave ours outside all year but do cover them with a cloche in the winter. Cloche was removed about a month ago and new leaves growing. Hope they come back for you as they are lovely plants.

 

Thank you so much everyone for your advice - wondering whether I should leave the cloches on for a bit longer (were not getting much sun/warm weather up north for a few weeks yet)

 

Any extra warmth you can give them will only help, I'd clear the mulch back a bit as its probably keeping the ground cold now at this time of year, you can put the mulch back once the shoots start to grow, in order to preserve moisture.

 

Thank you I will give that a try and hope for the best

 

That’s great thank you

 

Thank you I will give that a try and hope for the best

 

For the last couple of years I have had Cannas, this one is the standard one that comes from B&Q and has an orange flower, photo below. Anyone got an idea of what type please?

So a couple of questions, I want to grow a different Canna than the one I’m doing, I fancy one that will grow higher and has a different colour flower, any ideas?

Anyway at the end of last year I took one of the Cannas out of its pot to repot it with some fresh compost as it has been in there for a couple of years, the pot ended up getting smashed so I gave up on the other 3 as pots are expensive. So is there a way of getting the Canna Lily without smashing the pot? Or could I just feed the Canna with Tomorite and this will sustain the plant through the summer?

The Canna I did take out, the one where I broke the pot, I got a saw and cut it into 4 new plants, so will be interested if this will come through, I covered the new pots with bark to keep the frost out.

 

The only way I'd suggest is to be brave and let the canna root ball get very dry - then it should shrink and with a flexible knife to slide around the edges it should come out. For the bigger cannas and special ones, I'd suggest a specialist like Hart Cannas, as apparently many plants in the high street sellers are virused

 

Hi

lots of varieties to choose from and now is a great time to choose.

canna only need to be re-potted in the Spring and don’t benefit from doing at the end of the summer , if tight in the pot I use a water hose and wash the soil out it will easily come out and repot with fresh compost at the same time and as others have said need to be kept frost free or they will die

hope that’s helps plus Indica would be a great choice for a new canna

spruce

 

I split pot growing Cannas every spring, I overwinter dry in the garage.
They may need a bit more than just some bark on top to protect them from frost depending on where you are and how low temperatures go.

You shouldn't need to break the pot to get them out unless, like yours, they have been in the same pots and got badly congested, they do deform plastic pots.
Plastic pots do become brittle as they age.

If using clay pots they can attach roots to the clay which can make removal difficult.