Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Yardening Fall 2013, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
A follow up on the pink Cannas....

Re-potted them all today. had to go to 8" or 9" square pots.
The bigger round ones I had were not big enough.

So--here is the "process".....

1--The cannas were extremely root bound. This is when I pulled them out of their pots.

2--To start the roots-losening, I cut off about 1/2" from the base of the root ball.
This is a harmless, good practice with root bound shrubs. grasses, Mums, or whatever.
This small "surgery" will not harm the plant. Use an old kitchen knife.

3--Now the roots are all loosened from the root ball. many broke off and
were discarded. Again--NO biggie! Just look at it as root pruning.
You will see the beginnings of a rhizome forming--from which new, fresh
stems are growing up. I poked around deeper with my finger to feel if there
may be a more substantial rhizome--but there was not.
Assuming these were grown from seed--this could just be the first stage of
development of bigger rhizomes.

4--Here is a new stem growing from this small rhizome.

5--Here they are--all re-potted in their new pots. I only cut off the old bloom stems
and the dried, yukky leaves. Will leave them like this for now.
You can see that one of them has grown a new stem and is going to bloom.

Not sure at this time what the next step will be when it gets cold....
I will worry about that later....