Snow or no snow? What zone or geographic area, roughly?

We are in central KY, zone 6b. Thanks.

Can you post a picture of the area? Do you get snow?

Thanks for the replies. Central Kentucky can get a little of everything. Some years they can get mild winters without any snow all year. Other winters it can be sub freezing temps for weeks and a few snows of 6-10 inches that last a week or so.

I don't have a picture to share...I'm not exactly sure where I will put them and how it will be designed. MIght put them in a stip along the side of the house.

I'm not sure if this will work, as in will the color last all winter? Might be worth a try to find out. Find a source of red twig, yellow twig or both kinds of that dogwood, Cornus alba or C. sericea. Get a big bundle of the stem cuttings and stick them in the ground as a temporary shrub for the winter where the cannas come out. You could end up with a lot of rooted dogwood plants come spring.

Some people like to plant those big colorful cabbages for winter landscape fill.

Also you might see about grabbing inexpensive small evergreens or euonymous when they are marked down for end of season clearance at the big box stores.

You can raise some winter bloomers like cyclamen, crocus and dwarf iris that flourish in the cold.

What landscape foundation beds do not have bare spots in the winter? I can't see that complete avoidance of this is a worthy or reasonable goal. Surely you can find some place for cannas, even if it doesn't start with being the optimum place, in your view.

A landscape does not have to full to be beautiful. Sometimes less is more.

Gardeners in my area with clay or stony soils like to use a top dressing of planting mix on bare spots. I agree with Littlebug: sometimes less is more.

We really would benefit from a picture.

One option is to plant a low ground over, and in spring remove enough to tuck in cannas that have been started in pots. Or even just use some ornamental pots with the cannas set in a bed of ground over. Or tuck them in as small clumps into a mixed perennial bed which would have some small bare spots in the off season.

You might do a web search for images of cannas in the landscape. They don’t need to be the only thing in the bed during the growing season.

Cannas are beautiful, and it sounds like a lot of effort but well worth it. One initial idea is to add planters with evergreen or cold-resistant plants that you can remove in the spring when you replant your cannas. Another option could be adding furniture with a fire pit in that area, depending on where and how big it is. If you have photos of the area, we can give you more ideas, but in the meantime, here’s some inspiration from some of our projects:

Planters:

Outdoor Space With Fire Pit: