Am I supposed to remove the spent blooms on my cannas? Also, I've had a slew of cannas on my back fence going on 3 years which bloomed great, and this year about 1/10th came back! What could've happened?
dead heading cannas
I live in San Antonio, and a few of mine didn't come back either. Actually, I should say they were peeking their heads out the first week in February due to the unusually warm winter. Then we had 2 weekends where it got down to 23 deg. I think that is what happened to mine, and they fact that they were fairly new varieties that might not have been as hardy as some.
I would like to know about deadheading also. I have one that has finished blooming. I pulled the flower heads off as they were starting to die off. Now I have a tall stalk where all of the flowers were. Should this be cut off to encourage more blooming?
I planted cannas for the first time last year in May, and by the first of July, they were blooming very well. Red King Humberts were the type I grew. I cut off the dead/faded blooms, and they just kept on blooming all summer long. I feel that deadheading and feeding with Color Burst fertilizer made all the difference in the world.
My best two lessons learned last year was to install a watering system (soaker hose) before they get really tall. Some of mine were over 10ft tall by the end of August. The remains of hurricane Katrina blew in across Tennessee, and tore down a lot of my plants; the bed never looked as good after the storm. Second lesson; stake tall cannas up if they aren't protected from high winds.
Attached is a picture of my bed last year. They are about 4 feet high as of the end of May this year.
David
That's good info on the soaker hose and staking, but on the deadheading, do I cut them just below the spent bloom where the new ones are about to emerge? I tried gently pulling them off, and that worked on some, but on others I accidently pulled off buds.
Also, when can I transplant? There is some overcrowding, and I would love to place the newly emerging ones elsewhere. Any tips?
teresau,
i would say as long as they arent blooming you could trasplant them.
teresau,
I pulled the ratty individual blooms off until they were all gone from the flower pod. After that, I actually took scissors out and cut off the dead bloom spike. Usually there was another beginning to come up to take its place. If you will notice, there are kind of like "notches" in the bloom spike. I just cut off at the first "notch" below the dead flower pod.
I don't know about transplanting them, as this is only my second year growing cannas.
Here's another picture of my bed last year. (btw.. my bed is in a public space at my condo complex; thus, the "Do Not Enter" sign embedded. lol)
David
This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 5:09 PM
This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 5:10 PM
This message was edited Jun 1, 2006 5:13 PM
If it's a canna that produces seeds, I pull off the dead flower and wait a few days. I then gently brush the seed capsule. If it hasn't been fertilized it will break off easily. I actually like the way the ripening capsules look against the new flowers.
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