Our Seed Cannas

Two years ago we started our project of growing cannas from seed. EG has always grown cannas, so our deck looked beautiful the summer before with some tall beauties we had purchased. In the fall, he collected seed from those that produced seed. Not all cannas will, but we ended up with quite a few seeds. The next spring I learned a lot about growing them. First of all, you need to scarify each seed (which means to make small cuts); then soak them for two days in warm water before planting. Soon you will see little leaves poking out of the soil. It was exciting to see what the bloom would look like, because in most cases it would not be like the parent plant. Pictures are of the small growing plants--the first one to open was Ours (red without label). The other red one is Stick Red (named because it was very tall); a beautiful pink, my favorite, Ours Romance. Two yellows are Best Yellow and Yellow Speckles.