Growing cannas was a test this year. I had traded hosta plants for canna bulbs at our Plant Swap back in May. I had the spot to plant them – on the side of the garage in full sun. The blank wall needed something showy in the summer that would die back in the winter leaving room for the pile of snow.
The cannas should work.
It took a while for them to emerge. (Maybe the soil is bad because we grew arborvitae trees and it could be acidic.) But they finally started growing. July came around and my neighbor's plants were a foot taller than mine. (A different variety I'm sure.) Then I talked to a friend last week who said she was ready to pull her cannas out of the ground already. What the heck. Mine haven't even flowered yet.
I've been waiting all summer to see a glimmer of red on the peak of my cannas. The leaves look spectacular – tropical, but I wasn't getting any blooms.
OK canna lovers and the person who I swapped with at the plant sale, what did I do wrong to get a bloom finally in September? And when am I supposed to dig the bulbs?
