Hi Danielle: I have been winter sowing these plants for several years. I am in Zone 5, and it gets very cold and we have a long winter with lots of snow, and I'm not quite familiar with your zone. I winter sow my seeds early in the winter, by early February and our freeze/thaw cycles break the seed coat nicely and I have good germination in May. If you don't have the cold temperatures we have, you may need to soak and/or nick the seeds, but unfortunately I don't have any experience with that. Once the plants have grown the tubers can be dug and stored over winter, but I find that more work than winter sowing each year. Besides the plants also produce lots of seeds, so there's no shortage. Maybe someone from your zone can give you their expereience. They are lovely butterfly magnets.

Northerner_on,

I collected some seeds this summer and was going to try to winter sow them, but I didn't know if they would grow as tall as the tubers the first year. I'm definetly going to give it a try now! Thanks for the information.

Karen

They grow quit fast.

I winter sowed these this year and in August they were this big:

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That's a truck tire they are growing in.

Lynda

I never thought about WS canna. I have three varieties outside. They haven't frozen yet, so I think I will look for some seeds. I dig them and store them every year and it is such a job!

Lynda - excellent!

They seem to be my nemesis. 1st year they only grew 12" in pots. This past year, they were in the ground and hit maybe 30" but still no flowers. I've wintersowed them and started them inside and neither set, both time, bloomed!

If anyone can offer suggestions......help!

Linda, perhaps you are not planting them out soon enough. I see signs of germination about the middle of May, and I plant them out about 2 weeks after that. I have to put mine under cut off 2-litre pop bottles or the animals will eat them. The only year I did not get blooms was when I planted a dwarf variety in a pot. I think they do best in the earth and they don't seem to be fussy about the soil. I've had them in soggy clay, and well-drained amended soil. They do like full sun also. Good luck!!

northerner_on - worth a shot to try this year!

I WS'd Canna Tropic Rose seeds 3 years ago, planted it in a tub, and I was blown away by how beautiful it was. It didn't make seeds for me though, I guess the season was too short. It was one of those plants that I would love to have had many more of. Maybe I'll grow it again if I can think of a place that has room for it.

Mary