NEW TO CANNA

Hello you canna lovers, we have been watching your threads with great interest, and have been amazed by these beautiful lilies, i have been growing lilies, Asiatic and Oriental, but have never tried canna lilies, i have bought my first, seeds Indian shot, we also got a few of a friend, i can tell I'm going to get addicted to these before i start, we live in the Outer Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland, i am at present trying to make a tropical garden here, we open our garden for charities, i was wondering if anybody could give me any good advice on growing and germinating canna, if anybody wants a home for any spare seeds, this gardener would be eternally grateful, but its advice that i'm seeking most of all, if you are going to grow canna, you need to go to the people who can do it best, and that's here on dg's.
Hope that you are all keeping well and warm, kindest regards Peter and Mary-Anne, if you would like to visit my garden, here is a link http://lakesidegardens.spaces.live.com/
Saying as we are so close to valentines day, here is a poem that i have written and had published, for those who are romantically involved. please give to your partner if you like it, from an old romantic on the Hebridean Isles, i have framed it and filled it full of roses for you, gardeners

Canna seeds are very easy to grow-I kill about every seed I've tried.
But cannas-I just put a few in a four inch pot-watered it-they grew! Like magic!
Other people may have more refined methods,
But if I grew them, anyone can! Your zone is much warmer than mine-you'll very likely be successful!

What kinda seeds ya got!

Hi,

Glad to have you both aboard! Here is a short primer I wrote for starting canna from seed:

Canna are hard coat seeds. What this means is you have to put a hole in the coat in order to speed up germination. Just a little one .. enough to see white. Some people use a nail file to nick the seed, I use my dremel tool with a small drill bit in it.

The hardest part to growing canna from seed is getting a hole in the seed without drawing blood from yourself! .. I usually take a pair of wirecutters and put a dent in the coat then rotate the seed and grab it again with the wire cutters. What the dent does is give your drill bit something to grab onto, otherwise it will keep slipping. The wirecutters keep the seed from shooting off when you apply pressure to it. If you do this, don't grip it too hard or you will break the seed in two. I've tried using exacto knives, nail files and anything else I could think of. The dremel tool is the easiest and works the best. You could probably use a regular drill with a tiny bit in it and get the same results. Just be careful!

Once you have your hole in it, soak it overnight starting in hand hot water then plant it about 1/2 inch deep in some good potting medium. They can take anywhere from 1 - 6 weeks to show up depending on the temperature of the growing medium. If you plant them early enough they will bloom the first year.

The neat thing about growing canna from seed is that you will never know what you are going to get. They don't always breed true to the parent. So don't be surprised if your home grown canna doesn't look anything like the plant you got the seeds from!

X

Xeramtheum
Many thanks for you kind advice, will do as you say, funny enough i have a dremel, i will let you know how i get on, and i will post some pics of them if they flower this year, which as you say they could, i must admit, i had a little laugh when you mentioned using a drill, i have a titan drill that is about 2 1/2 ft long with percussion, LOL, some how i do not think that would work, just thought that i would put a bit of humour into it.
I really appreciate your advice, thank you once again, hope that you are keeping well and warm, kindest regards from Peter and Mary-Anne.

Tropicanna
The answer to your question is Indian shot, i will try your method to, hope that the weather is not to bad where you are and that you stay warm and in good health, kindest regards from Peter and May-Anne

Peter and May-Anne,

What type of charities do you support with your garden? That's a wonderful idea!