Garden Tip 137:

One of the fun chores of fall cleanup is harvesting canna rhizomes. Cannas in the garden are ornamental, exotic and tropical all at the same time. They can be used as focal points, accent plants or as thriller plants in mixed containers.

Their large paddle-shaped, heavily-veined leaves come in shades of green, bronze, yellow and variegated.  Flowers appear midsummer through fall and varietal colors include red, orange, yellow, and pink. Dwarf varieties grow to a height of a foot and a half, regular varieties three to five feet, and tall varieties can reach a height of eight feet or more– all without staking for their tubular stalks are super strong.

Now for the fun part! In mid-October canna foliage begins to weaken and collapse– a sure sign that it is time to cut them down and dig the rhizomes for winter storage. Canna rhizomes grow and multiply like potatoes. The volume of rhizomes dug in the fall can be three, five, and sometimes close to ten times the amount planted in the spring!

Dug rhizomes should be left in the sun for a day or two to dry up any clinging soil that can then be shaken off. Overwintering can be as easy as wrapping individual rhizomes in newspaper and storing all in paper bags in the cellar. With that being said, I am finding that rhizomes left in the ground in protected areas (close to buildings or stone walls for example) will actually make it through the winter. Try canna in your garden next season. You won’t need a bunch because you will get a bunch, and at the end of the season leave a few in the ground to test against old man winter!