Anyone any good at cannas or ginger lilies?

[Guest]

Ok, I think I am doing something horribly wrong. I can keep them a live but I can't get them to grow. I bought a couple of cannas years ago and every year they only grew to a few inches tall. Unfortunately those plants are gone, but I grew some ginger lilies from seed last year and they are going down the same route. They are alive but they are just inch long pointy shoots and have been like that for probably a couple of months.

Any tips or advice gratefully welcomed.

Thank you as always

[Guest]

Just giving it a bump.

[DannyK]

Been growing nice variegated cannas for years but they never flower. In 10" pots and overwatered in cool green house.

Ginger needs to build up to a rhizome. Once it gets going it'll be a triffid. My Hedychium gardnerianum have distorted their pots and are overflowing!

[happyhumph]

Canna need rich soil - feed, lots of compost etc. To get them to flower they need lots of sun. Do you keep them going over winter or induce dormancy? I make mine go dormant & in march repot them with lots of compost & feed indoors about 10-15 degrees c, then into unheated greenhouse about middle of April, then harden off may.

[DannyK]

I keep the cannas at about 4 deg over winter. They do die back.
Never repotted, will do next year. Have been giving them tomato fertiliser to try to get them to flower.

[happyhumph]

I sometimes repot back into the same pot, just refreshing soil around to make sure there's plenty of nutrients (like you would a pot grown tree). Mine got so big last year I split it into 4 - will see if they flower this year. I'm planning on taking mine out of pots & putting in the ground this year if I ever get round to it. At the moment they've made it as far as outside the greenhouse door. ....

Mine grow on at 10-15 as that's the temp of an unheated room I have, & greenhouse in quite an exposed spot so gets just that bit too cold in winter.

Never grown gingers though.

[happyhumph]

Just had a quick look, first flower bud on one of the four now forming - yay! Didn't flower last year as kept it in to shady a spot. I knew this, & could have moved easily as in a pot but didn't for some reason.....

[DannyK]

These are my triffid gingers. There's a few years growth there!

[happyhumph]

Cool - they look like something growing on the bottom of an ocean!

[happyhumph]

Cool - they look like something growing on the bottom of an ocean!

[happyhumph]

I've finally managed to upload pics by more than pure luck so here's a pic of the one canna which is flowering. Quite cool, bought it as a green leaved, yellow flowered un-named reduced half dead tiny plant from tesco. Turns out I think it must be canna 'cleopatra' as it changes flower colour (this year yellow & red with spots) & leaf colour - sometimes green, sometimes variegated, sometimes dark.