Cannas without flowers???

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mantucci Mesa, AZ Feb 28, 2011

I have Cannas bulbs in clay pots that I plant other flowering annuals thruout the year. The pots get part sun under a lattice arbor year round. Each winter they sprout up and grow vigorously, but never flower. They do well until the HEAT (this is Phoenix) and the foliage dies off. I dont fertilize at all because of the changing annuals in the pots. What am I doing wrong?

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themoonhowl Prairieville, LA(Zone 9a) Mar 01, 2011

Your lack of blooms is more than likely due to not enough sun. Cannas are native to Mexico and require full sun most of the day to thrive and bloom. They do like to be a bit crowded to bloom also. In the summer they like regular water and prefer to be dry in the winter. While they don't handle a lot of cold, they also do not do well if the soil around them gets too warm in summer. They need compost rich soil and a good healthy layer of mulch. It also helps if you can keep the pots shaded a bit during the hottest part of the day, but lots of sun the rest of the time. It is a good idea to give them a bit of granular fertilizer in the Spring when they start poking through the soil, but don't really require more than that. Hope this helps.

Here is some anecdotal info from a couple folks in AZ.

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/canna/msg030227217044.html

check the section TENDER BULBS
http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/mar98p1-4.pdf

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ecrane3 Dublin, CA(Zone 9a) Mar 01, 2011

Have you ever tried growing them in the ground instead of in pots? If they don't like the soil around them getting too warm, the soil in a garden bed stays a much more consistent (and cooler) temperature than soil in pots (even if the pots have some afternoon shade).

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mantucci Mesa, AZ Mar 02, 2011

THX for the input. I have tried moving one pot into a full-sun spot. The comment of planting in the dirt is interesting. I have another spot in a planting bed right for it. THX again

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themoonhowl Prairieville, LA(Zone 9a) Mar 03, 2011

Good luck with your cannas.

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