A neighbor offered my husband and I some cannas that he was digging up and dividing and we said yes please. This is the first time we have grown cannas, and it is their third year here at our house.
The only sunny spot we could find was along our alley, next to the neighbor's ice plant. The cannas he gave us have flowers on four foot spikes, with some plants' flowers brilliant orange and other's bright red. Cannas are not frost hardy but do fine in my zone 8 garden. If you live in zones 1 to 3 you need to lift and store the roots over winter. Cannas prefer moist soil but never waterlogged, and always well drained. They do well in a container and are to be enjoyed in the garden as they are not great cut flowers.
These plants have a tropic flair to them, and a few months ago for variety I bought two Lucifer rhizomes with flowers that are red edged with yellow, so I look to see them bloom in future. Lucifer is a small canna that grows to 30 inches tall. Most cannas, and all the rest of ours, grow 3 to 6 feet tall. Our cannas bloom all of June, July and August.
