With Christmas just around the corner, I wanted to introduce my canna ‘Hello Yello’. This plant started to bloom in July and shows no signs of wanting to stop blooming. I know, you’re going to say that it’s impossible, that cannas are summer bulbs and need to go dormant winter, but I’ve been “saving” cannas from the cold for years by bringing them indoors in early September and growing them on a sunny window and I can assure you they can continue to grow throughout the year.
Natural Growth Habits
Cannas, in fact, have no obligatory dormancy in their natural habitat, the tropical and subtropical swamps of South and Central America. There they grow all year, only entering dormancy during periods of drought. So, cannas use dormancy as a sort of backup plan: they can go dormant if they have to, but actually do better when they can grow all year. Since I bring my cannas indoors and keep them well watered and warm through the fall and winter, nothing stimulates them to go dormant.
My Winter Canna Strategy
Usually I keep two or three cannas as “winter plants”. I do put the others into dormancy, largely due to a lack of indoor growing space. The average “winter canna” continues to grow throughout the year and even blooms indoors, but flowering is sporadic. For example, this year I also have a pot of canna ‘Australia’ on my windowsill and it is just beautiful with its shiny, deep purple leaves, but this canna is not a heavy bloomer. Outdoors, at least under my conditions, it doesn’t bloom until the end of summer; indoors, it blooms only very occasionally. Currently mine has one stem with a swelling flower bud and I expect it to bloom sometime in January. I really like my ‘Australia’ and will appreciate its bright red flowers when they appear, but ‘Hello Yello’ is even better!
First, ‘Hello Yello’ is a relatively dwarf canna, only about 3 ft (90 cm) high, and therefore takes up less space on the windowsill. Also, it is by far the most floriferous canna I’ve ever tried. I must admit that in 2012, the first year I grew it, flowering was pretty sporadic, but now the pot is full of rhizomes and the plant continues to produce new stems, each stem producing at least 3 bunches of flowers, one after another. The result is that, this year at least, it has been in continuous bloom since July.
Simple Care Tips for Winter Cannas
Maintenance? A summer outside in the sun, a winter on the sill of my sunniest window, warmth at all times (nights above 60F/15C), abundant watering in all seasons and continuous fertilization (since the plant doesn’t go dormant, I have to fertilize even in winter).
Next year, try it and see. And try a few other cannas indoors as well. I have no room to carry out much experimentation, but I’m sure you’ll find other cannas that are just as floriferous indoors as ‘Hello Yello’. If so, let me know your results. It is surprising what good houseplants cannas make and ‘Hello Yello’ is, so far, the best of them all!
This text was first published on this blog on December 17, 2014. It has been revised and the layout updated.
Exactly (again)! Their foliage is very vulnerable to frost, but because they do not know what winter is, or that more frost is possible prior to spring, they resume growth during winter as if nothing happened.
Thank you for reprinting this. I have a short growing season and cannas rarely bloom for me. I suspect if I kept one alive all winter it would have a head start come spring and I would see more flowers. I will look for Hello Yello or another dwarf canna next spring.
‘Cannova Mango’ blooms very prolifically for us, and begins very early. I suspect that other cultivars of the ‘Cannova’ series would be as prolific in bloom, and bloom so early that they would be able to bloom within a very short season. We grow old fashioned cannas here, primarily for their foliage, so bloom is merely a colorful bonus. Furthermore, I am not so keen on short or modern cultivars. However, I acquired ‘Cannova Mango’ from a colleague, and hesitatingly added it to one of our landscapes. The cultivars that were already here provide all the foliage and more than enough bloom, but the ‘Cannova Mango’ provides even more at a lower level in front of the others. Regardless of how I feel about it, everyone else is very fond of it! It begins blooming before any of the others, and continues to bloom just as late. Even if they start later and finish earlier there, they still should be able to bloom somewhat.
Beautiful Larry!! Nice way to keep some color in winter. Is that a Canna lily or am I completely off? Do you trim off the dried blooms?
Canna, although not related to lily, is commonly known as canna lily.