canna lilies

i planted my canna lilies in full sun, it has grown nice and tall but no flowers as yet. will it flower before the fall?

They usually bloom around this time of year in zone 5. When did you plant them, and do you fertilize them?

i planted them after the frost in zone 6 and i fertilize them twice for the season

Hmmm...I do know that heavy spring rains can slow down the blooms on Cannas, Also, fertilizing too much can retard blooming. It is recommended that they be fed in the spring when new growth starts.Perhaps they will surprise you and manage a few blooms before your first frost. Sorry I can't be of more help.


http://www.ehow.com/info_8080952_would-canna-lily-not-bloom.html

http://www.easytogrowbulbs.com/g-32-canna-planting-guide.aspx

Don't bury your Canna tubers / bulbs too deep as this prevents flowering, they like lot's of sun but not parched soil either. I only offer a feed in spring when the tender green tips are just growing up through the top soil, and in Autumn, leave the greenery to die off before you cut it away, add a mulch if your in a frost area over winter.
At this time you can either lift the tuber corm / bulb whatever you want to call it, and either store indoors in pot with fresh compost kept almost dry so they dont rot, begin to plant back outdoors when little green shoots show.
Hope you get flowers soon as they are beautiful plants and always the last to flower here at end of summer when lot's of other stuff has gone over.
Weenel.

Some types of cannas have to reach a certain ht before blooms, some of them are more finicky to bloom, and others bloom all summer- we hack at em, abuse em and they just grow and spread. The full sun is a must, the cool days may slow em a bit, let em get rootbound by the way, and good luck!

Thank you themoomhowl, WeeNel and Kittriana for all your tips.I will follow them next spring and hope I have better results, will let you know if i get flowers before fall

Thank You! I am curious to find out!

Good luck, cytf...please do let us know how they fare.

HI KITTRIANA,I THINK YOU ARE CORRECT. SOME CANNAS BLOOM LATE , I THINK MINE IS SENDING UP A BLOOM AND THE PLANT HAS GROWN VERY TALL. I WILL SEND A PICTURE AS SOON AS I CAN TAKE A NICE SHOT OF IT . WEENEL YOU KNOW THE FACTS TOO THAT CANNAS ARE THE LAST TO FLOWER. THANKS AGAIN TO MY GARDENING BUDDIES YOU GIVE ME HOPE WITH MY PLANTS

THANK YOU TO THEMOONHOWL TOO, I APPRECIATE ALL THE TIPS YOU GAVE ME

Bravo CYTF....so happy you will get to see the blooms this year.

O.M.G. what are we gardeners like, waiting for plants to bloom is like awaiting visitors that are late and we worry about them, or waiting for a passenger to arrive at airport, only my plants appear to give me more worries than anything, Jeeeeeez dont tell my family ha, ha, ha.
Good luck, make sure you take a picture so you know what to look for next year and maybe identify what kind of Canna you have,
Be aware that any winter frost will turn the foliage black or maybe even rot if frost get's them and then a sunny day allows the foliage to defrost, after flowering, allow the foliage to die down a bit before removing it as the foliage slowly dying down helps feed the tuber for next year,
Some Autumn's I have to lift my tubers and allow the foliage to die down in-doors and then I have to cut the foliage away, store them like tender bulbs until planting back out in situ again the following years, IF this is the first year for your Canna tubers, don't be tempted to cut them into several plants, wait a few years and then cut the tubers to get more plants, as someone already said, some tubers like to be pot bound before they really show their worth.
Glad your getting flowers and good luck for next year too.
WeeNel.

STILL WAITING FOR THE FLOWER TO OPEN UP, IT WAS 75 DEGREES TODAY AND MY CANNA LEAVES ARE STILL GREEN AND BEAUTIFUL.WE ARE EXPERIENCING ONE OF THE HOTTEST YEARS EVER.WE GARDENERS ARE LIKE A KID IN A TOY STORE WITH OUR PLANTS AND FLOWERS .I GOT THE TUBER FROM MY GARDEN CLUB LUNCHEON . WE ALWAYS HAVE A TABLE WITH VARIOUS ITEMS FOR SALE AND SOMEONE HAD THESE PRICED FOR $2.00, SO I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT COLOR IT IS.

Cytf, I am way down here in zone 9a and my canna just started blooming a couple days ago....fingers crossed for yours to bloom also.

I am in zone 8b and just when I think my 3 Canna (Canna Lily Corsica) is done blooming, another shoot pops up. I also have two, Canna Lily The President, that hasn't bloomed yet.The dogs got a little excited one and began chasing one another right through my garden and broke one of the Canna The President's 1st stalk off. It hasn't done anything since. I hope it returns next year. The other President has 2 stalks and several leaves, but won't grow higher than about 20 inches, or flower. Some of the leaves have what looks like "burnt" edges that look crispy, but they are soft to the touch. I know they aren't sun burned, so I don't know what is going on with them. It is my first year growing them.

I hope you get blooms soon, cytf!

Burnt leaf edges- hmmm, the water getting deep enough to the roots? And don't over fertilize these, they are not needing much in the way of fertilizers.

Some pictures would help, but burnt edges that look crispy but feel soft could be rotting/fungus.

Here are some pics of the crispy looking leaves, which are really soft to the touch, and not at all crispy.

The 1st pic is of the whole canna plant. The 2nd pic is a close up of a leaf edge. (Don't mind the white spots...it is just residue from a Safer brand spray I used the day before. The leaf issues were present weeks before I ever used any spray on it.) The 3rd pic is a close up of a leaf that I tried trimming the brown, crispy looking edges off.

Also, not all of the leaves have this problem. Just a few of them.

Needs more air space away from fence, less of a potting soil type dirt, but I am no fungus expert- when nex you can

kittriana, I didn't use potting soil when planting this canna. The soil was actually VERY compacted dirt which contained a lot of sand, so I added some Black Kow compost & a little soil conditioner to it before planting. Also, the soil around the canna appears darker because I just watered it. The soil to the left wasn't watered and is much lighter & drier.

As for air circulation, do you suggest I move it to a new location? If so, should I do it now or wait until after the first frost, leaves have died, and I can transplant just the bulb/rhizome? Over the next 10 days, we're going to have some overnight lows in the mid 40's & afternoon temps in the mid 60's to low 70's.

Thanks!

Move the bulbs when the plant dies down- they need the air because they can store so much water- once we plant cannas in Texas hwy medians- the only water they get is rain and they do fine, yours may be a hybrid and need more pampering tho than the rugged ones we chunk out in the pastures and fence lines that just never quit growing...

I must let my gardening buddies know that the northeaster that hid New York finished off my canna lilies, so I have to wait for next year to see the blooms.

I sincerely hope the cannas were the only loss you sustained Cytf....good to see you back online.

Awww, glad you are fine!

Yes, we also hope everyone is OK and safe. As for cannas I will probably be unpopular for admitting this, but that is one plant I really do not like. They use it a lot here commercially and I just can't find a soft spot for it in my gardening heart. Too big and brassy for me I guess.