I have always grown Canna's in flower beds and they did great. Recently found out some Canna's can do well even submerged in water. Are all Canna's ok for bog or water gardens? Thanks
Are ALL Canna's suitable for ponds?
You should be able to grow all cannas at least partially submerged, some canna (aquatic canna, longwoods etc) can go quite deep. You should have a well growing plant before doing this though. Even partially submerging a canna that is not already actively growing can cause it to rot.
Thank you for your info - I was mostly curious about rot. I mean, if I make a mistake with canna bulbs in pots over the winter - they rot. Once the Canna's in a bog or pond are established will they still overwinter without rot or will I need to replace them every year? Thanks again for the info - I love Canna's and would love to use them in my pond but just want to be sure I understand the good and bad with this before doing so. I hate killing plants.
You won't be able to leave them in the pond, as soon as they start to die back in fall remove them from the pond and let them dry out. If storing cannas for the winter is a problem for you, maybe you should try storing them all dry for winter.
Thanks - not a problem to pull em out and store the "bulbs" dry. Just wondered if they would overwinter in the water. Thanks.
If they don't in the ground for you, they definitely won't in water :( Happy to help!
They easily overwinter in the ground here - zone 8b not much colder here than where you are during the winter, I was just curious if they would rot in the pond overwinter. Thanks.
Oh, I didn't know your zone lol Um, do yours die back during the winter? , if they die back, then they would die in the pond, they have to be actively growing in the pond, so that's a call you would have to make come winter I think.
Yeah, the leaves die back in winter but they come back in spring - well, the ones in the ground do but not sure if they would in the water or not. lol I will just dig most up to be safe and leave a few as a test. I really appreciate your help and info.
I've been wondering the same thing about my cannas and other water or bog plants. Here in FL there is no cold weather die-off but the plants do die back after blooming or whatever they consider their season. So far some of the plants I put into my water first tended to partially die off in order to sprout new growth. Others simply started to grow bigger and didn't skip a beat. The cannas seem to fall into the first category in that they seem to need to get acclimatized to their environment. Now one is blooming while others show lots new sprouts. I would suspect that after the bloom I should cut the main stems back to let new sprouts come out. It's like that with my gingers in the ground too. They bloom and hang in there before they eventually turn yellow and die off. Cutting them back after bloom seems to push new growth from below. I know this doesn't mean anything to all you cold weather ponders but I don't want my tubers to rot after blooming either so the topic is valid no matter where we plant. I'll be testing the waters, so to speak, here in no-winterland.
The bloomer can be seen in the attached picture. More shots of my waterplants around and in the pond can be seen at
http://fredrump.phanfare.com/album/252823/356243#imageID=15070308
Fred, your canna will be fine. What you'll find though is they are pushing up new plants long before you feel the need to cut the bloomed one down, little monsters :o)
i keep all my water cannas in the water for the winter but i cut tham back in late Oct i clean theam up by jan tho they have growed back and are blooming again paul