I forgot to mention that I live in Birmingham, Alabama (zone 8) and my cannas stay in the ground year round.

How long have you had these intrigue? Are they planted in full sunlight? In one growing season, you should have a big clump with flowers.

Susan,

From my understanding
of your brief description, I suspect something has eaten the underground
rhizome causing the healthy looking stems to remain. I think we can rule out
any sort of rhizome rot because the foliage would have slowly declined first.
Was there any sign of soil disturbance?

At this time
I would be considering the possibility of moles, field rats or groundhog predation??

Kent

You are probably right. I noticed several holes in my yard, mostly in grassy areas. I think my yard is being invaded by burrowing animals like moles or voles. I will have to find out how to deal with them. Susan

My canna bulbs are yellow and not firm. I cut the part off of the bulb that was mushy, and ended up with 3 firm parts that I replaneed in soil 2 weeks ago. I have not seen any emmergence.

Terri,

It would
have been better to have begun a new thread unrelated to the above post. It
helps prevent some confusion.

Unfortunately
you provide absolutely no information relative to your area, storage conditions
or temperatures etc. relative to what may have created the problem. A photo of the
rhizomes planted might be beneficial. Mushy rhizomes often indicate frozen
conditions and the “firm” or hard parts may simply be the remains of last year’s
old rhizome that may or may not be viable.

Best I can
do with what’s given.

Kent