Welcome to the Ozarks. My DH is a long time ago military retiree.

Yes, Cannas do very well here. I live about 45 miles South (straight line distance) of Springfield and have kept them in the ground, IF I plant them at least 9 inches deep and use a very heavy cover of mulch over winter. However, about every 20 years or so we get a really hard winter... -10 and lower that lasts for several days...not sure they would make it through one of those. Much depends on how long it lasts. I didn't have cannas the last time that happened. We can get quite a few single digit overnight lows that don't last...they don't seem to be a problem. It's a trade off... there will be things that you can grow here that don't do well in the heat of FL.

Soil depth and drainage may be more of a problem here than you have in FL, Springfield is flatter than here, so maybe you will have more topsoil to work with. They don't call this Stone County for nothing.

Welcome Pam! : )
I've dug mine a couple times but didn't have very good luck storing them. The ones I've left in the ground almost always came back (even with my neglect) but I do think it's a little bit of a gamble. I only had two cannas last year. I never got around to mulching them for winter but one of them came back anyway. Mine weren't planted very deep. After reading Millie's post I'm wondering if I need to plant them deeper next time. This year I have several and plan to just leave them in the ground and mulch them. They're mostly not named varieties and I'm too lazy, I mean busy to dig them up. : )
But - I wonder, if you plant yours late, whether they will be established enough to return next year. Maybe it will depend on when you move. Wish I knew. For your very favorite cannas, you might want to over-winter some BOTH ways just in case.
I looked at your trade page and most of the things you have listed there looked familiar to me so maybe you'll be able to bring along some other plants too.
Let us know where you decide to settle.
Christie

Welcome to the area Pam. Your gonna like it up north. Where are you moving to. Judy

Thanks for the wonderful info all. Looks like I'll be getting out outside soon and digging some up. Christie, since I'll probably be moving close to you I'll bring some up for you too. I'll probably try to dry storage some of them and some I'll probably put in a pot of dirt. It's ashame I just can't take all my 18 gardens with me. TheyÂre so full with all my favorites from so many great Garden Web trades.

RedHot....we're looking at the Springfield area....maybe Rogersville, Strafford...a few miles out from the city but close enough to pop in for a nice dinner. Don't have a date yet when we'll move. We put the house up for sale Friday. Sooner or later, we'll be there....but hopefully sooner....and with any luck the hurricanes will just hold off. Pam

Christie is right...if you move during winter, it would be hard to get them in the ground. Either way you go, there is risk of loosing them. My mother's method was real simple because she had a "walk out" basement. She would dig the clumps, leaving the soil on them, dump them into a wheel barrow, and just wheel it into the basement for the winter. I don't know if she dampened those clumps during the winter or not, but she never lost them.

Year before last, i bought a bag of peat moss, and a HUGE plastic container, stored cannas, dahlias and glads, oh, and begonias, in this, and in the unheated garage. i just made sure they were in the warmest area, and i never lost anything.
Last year, i was too busy(read lazy) to do all this, and stored in a cool room in a box-- i lost everything but a few dahlias on the bottom of the pile. most just dried up.

I think I should've used peat moss. I tried just putting the cleaned off canna bulbs in a brown paper bag in my basement and they dried out also. It worked good for elephant ears though. Ceresone - Did you dampen the peat moss or leave it dry?
I dug my tuberose (very fragrant) last fall and just left them in their bucket of dirt in the garage all winter. I intended to pot them up and bring them in the house and never got around to it. I planted them out again this spring and they all did just fine and are sending up bloom stalks now.
Pam - You should bring as much with you as you can. The new owners will probably concrete over them anyway. At least bring enough so you'll have plants to trade with. I'm sure it won't take long to accumulate things again if you start trading. Sometimes I think it would be nice to start over now that I know more about gardening and which plants I like. I tend to keep things that I don't really care for and I have lots of plants that aren't in a good spot. I need to do some serious rearranging. But - Did I mention it's rocky here? It's a lot of work to move things around. lol
I got a little carried away on the cannas this spring. Don't save me very many Pam. I'm sure I'll have something to trade you for them though. Is figleaf hollyhock a neat plant? I'd never heard of that. Maybe you could save a few seeds of it before you move. I've collected seeds from my columbines and will lots of those.

If you lose your canna have some to spare. Not named but the tall ones. They do very well on the south side of the house. Nice a protected. Judy

I have been digging my bulbs and wash and dry them and then store in foam containers in sawdust or peat or vermiculite in a cool dark area.Was keeping them on my unheated front porch but it gets lots of winter sun and some of the dahlias were drying or rotting.Put everything upstairs in an unheated bedroom and they survived until spring,then they all sprouted like crazy!I planted dahlias in pots and planted them out when they were 2 feet high,then they got frosted!Some years you can't win!A basement or crawl space might work better.Let us know where you settle.I am close to Strafford and have lots to share.Posy Pet