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Cannas.

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  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    I think there's a good chance they will survive the winter if your soil is well drained. Personally I'd pull em up and keep them somewhere cold and dry (e.g. the shed) and pot them up as soon as the weather starts warming up in Spring. If only to give them a chance against the slugs.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I would not leave them in the garden, even in Devon.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I agree. I expect you have wet conditions @JAYJARDIN, and that's a bigger problem than a minus degree or two of frost in drier, free draining site. Mulching could just help retain that moisture too, which is even worse.

    Your cannas look great @Crazyfroglady...and.now.newts.. Nice to bring the cut stems inside too  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • AaronBilAaronBil Posts: 100
    I’m in Devon, got a load in pots and the ground. I’m going to risk a few this year as I’m dividing each year I’ve got more than I need. Will give some away. Left a few in the ground last year with mulch that made it though the dry summer didn’t help them grow too big. Canna black knight and Wyoming. Perhaps an excuse to try some new ones next year.
  • @Fairygirl - I think I'd better get them inside for the Winter !
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It always comes down to conditions- in pots, it's easier to get the drainage right, but even so, they may not cope. If temps stay low [doesn't have to be frosty] that cold wet soil stays like that. I think it would be very dodgy leaving them outdoors - even where you are @JAYJARDIN.
    I can't leave them outside even with some protection. They have to be in the house. A conservatory or a decent porch would be fine, but I don't have those now. Alternatively, I'd need a heated greenhouse, which is fairly pointless these days due to cost.  
    Last year we had a very hot summer, and a very mild, and much drier winter, so it's theoretically possible they might have survived in a really sheltered spot with some protection. Not something I'd ever rely on doing, year on year. :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited December 2022
    I overwintered Cannas outdoors in Bristol - the bed was near the house though so protected from the worst frost. I think the tricky bit is when they break dormancy - slugs are already active by then and you will see promising shoots razed to the ground over and over again. Without you intervening they may never get going properly. I think it's better to lift them and get them going in pots if they are precious to you.

    I grew Canna musifolia in a large container here in Nottingham, and overwintered the tubers in my unheated brick shed. I just yanked up the tubers and stored them in a plastic tub with the soil in place around the roots, letting them dry out naturally, which worked fine. Last year I sold all the tubers, but kept a small one for myself,  which I grew on. But to be honest, I forgot about it, so it hardly got watered and spent the whole winter unprotected. Surprisingly it survived and is still sitting outside in a pot right now.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • McRazzMcRazz Posts: 440
    The good thing about lifting them is it gives you the opportunity to divide them.

    We started off with a knobbly old discarded rootball that we found in our garden and now have half a dozen!
  • Mine are planted on a slope so the water will drain down away from them hopefully until I have time to dig them up and store them.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    I think we are forgetting that Winter can be cold, we have got too used to them being mild.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
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