Mid-Atlantic Gardening: digging up bulbs for the winter, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Whether this is 100% true or not---for those of you who have Cannas still blooming---let them be.

When the 1st frost comes--it will kill all the leaves and stems. Theu will just look all yukky.
At this time--you can cut the Cannas back to about 12" above ground---BUT--let it be another 2 weeks or so
before you dig up the bulbs.

From my "archive Memory banks"--this will allow the root-corms to bulk up and then you can dig them all up.
Do not try to clean them off by shaking the soil off. That may break apart the root-clumps.
You can remove some of the extra soil clinging on by hand--but, otherwise--let them air dry somewhere
and then store them in a box of peat moss or shredded newspapers for the winter.

Canna roots ARE really very fragile when it comes to them breaking off the main clump. Be gentle!

All the "One Eye" roots I have shared with you all are the result of this.
According to Allan Summers--a division should have at lease 3 "eyes" for a nice clump-to-be.

My neighbor--who is NOT a gardener of any form--bought 2 pots of orange/green leafed Cannas.
They are AWESOME!!!! They have been growing new stems and blooming away. Totally beautiful!!!

She is in Spain for now--for a long time. I asked her if she was going to dig these up--and she said "NO--
You can do what you want with them!"

I WILL dig these up and have them for my garden. When she is away--I always end up taking care of her garden anyway....

Lookie here!