Canna lilies are beautiful, but a word of warning – watch your pots, because beneath the beauty, cannas have violent tendencies. They multiply by producing new shoots below ground, and this new growth expands with a pressure that plant pots can’t contain. Plastic pots get distorted…

This pot is actually quite old, and I don’t think it will last another season. You can see it’s beginning to split at the bottom. Getting this canna out is likely to be a challenge. It’s ceramic pots you really have to watch. This one first started to crack, and then split apart, and now all that remains is a pile of crocks…

Cannas will usually survive in the ground over winter, particularly if your soil, like mine, isn’t heavy (it helps to mulch them with compost, chipped bark or the like). But they tend to be slow into growth the next year. And a cold winter can kill them. So I prefer to store mine in the greenhouse. I take them out of the pots and pop them into old compost bags…

Don’t let them dry out completely over the winter. They can be potted up into fresh compost next spring, and moved outside when the risk of frost has gone. They make a good show in a pot, but make sure the pot is big enough so they don’t break out of it! They can also be planted directly into the ground, where it helps to improve the soil. In a pot, or in the ground, keep them fed and watered for the best results.

For a plant that is reported as tender, cannas are surprisingly indestructible. Every year I split them to make new plants, and end up with far too many. I tried recycling the extras on the compost heap, but they love the warmth in there, and soon start throwing up new flower spikes! Oh well; of all the problems you could have as a gardener, it doesn’t get better than that…

text & images © graham wright 2022