Catherine,

There is a canna legend that archealogists discovered an old Inca rattle that was using canna seeds as the rattled items. The seeds were planted and they grew. That would be about 500 years old Canna seed succesfully growing. However, nobody can certify this legend, I have asked about it on this board, and it could be just a verbal legend that gets passed on from generation to generation. But its a good tale.

On a more uptodate note, I have grown 5 year old Canna seeds, but with a low fertility rate compared with a more recent crop. I had one sprouter out of 6 seeds planted. The seeds had been stored in ideal conditions.

Regards,
Malcolm

What are ideal storage conditions for the canna seeds?

The "verbal legend" written about above was actually documented in the journal "Nature". The reference is:

Lerman, J. C. and E. M. Cigliano. 1971. New carbon-14 evidence for six hundred years old Canna compacta seed. Nature 232: 568--570

Canna seeds should be stored dry and at room temperature.

I have seeds from all the years I have grown canna.
Some of these are over 15 years.
I still get decent germination from my oldest seeds.

I grow both hybrid and species cannas.
Seeds for both types have lasted years and germinate well.

Getting ready to sow for 2006 :-)
Alice