I think all you can do is try it. Cannas are pretty tough and maybe there is something that will sprout. Pat M.

Cannas might want to be dormant right now. I wouldn't leave them in water. I'd put them into shavings or vermiculite till late January. Then they may show slight signs of growth, much like tuberous begonias do. Whether they do or not, pot them up with good potting soil. Water very sparingly till you see growth poking up through the soil. Good luck.

Cannas might want to be dormant right now. I wouldn't leave them in water. I'd put them into shavings or vermiculite till late January. Then they may show slight signs of growth, much like tuberous begonias do. Whether they do or not, pot them up with good potting soil. Water very sparingly till you see growth poking up through the soil. Good luck.

In zone 8, cannas should put on growth in the next 2 months.

I would put them in the ground, or in a big pot to grow them out. Smashed or not, there should be something there to grow. It doesn't take much for a canna.

I would just not fertilize the canna when I plant it now. I just received some, they have been in a plastic bag for who knows how long. I stuck them in the ground, they have new shoots out of the ground. I will mulch heavily before we get a frost.

Janie

Aquarius1974, if they are thumb sized & the box was crushed, it sounds like you should have been sent a second box or issued a refund. A decent root should be about 3 inches with a couple of stalks. Thumb sized is too small for a canna root, and with what you describe there is not much there. It may grow, but flowering might be delayed.

http://www.craftygardener.ca/infocanna.html

This is a website i just googled in like 3 seconds and they should look like that mine arrived like that, some with multiple heads :D k well hope this helps :D

In water they could rot, About this time last summer I purchased a one gallon potted hardy canna. The one pot was full of tubers needing to be divided, and the top growth clearly seemed to be getting ready for winter.

I stuck the pots outside until the stalks died. Then about the time of our first early frost, I divided them and ended up with just over 14 tubers. Then, I filled about 14 one gallon, black, nursery pots with moistened, dry-peatmoss. Each of those tubers over wintered in my garage in those pots, which I kept slightly moist. By this year's spring enough sprouted and grew, for me to plant a bed of seven at a friend's house, 4 at my house and one at my daughter's house.

All of them grew nicely and bloomed abunduntly this year. it amazed me that for only 7 dollars, which the original pot cost, and the little bit of peat and pots which I already had; there turned out to be a yield of enough tubers for all three of our needs. In November, we could re-dig our beds, seperate the tubers, and end up with double or more of what we had this year.

What's my point? Why do you feel the need to spend money purchasing canna bulbs from Ebay, when it is so easy to get good stands of cannas from local nurseries, or even if you have to spend a little more, and start out with less by purchasing some from a reputable web supplier or mail order company?

Even if you can only afford a few from the more expensive suppliers, why not start with them, if they have the species you like? Cannas propagate so easily, that even if you start with less than desired, you should get many more than you even hoped for after each new growing season.

If they don't grow for you LMK I have some I will send you for postage. But they are pretty tough even if you take a piece of the root and put it in soil it should start growing. Believe me your not going to get rid of them once they start growing unless you put them in a pot. And take them out and throw them in a garbage can. LOL.