Canna lily is a lovely flowering plant from the family of Cannaceae. This single genus consists of almost 10 varieties of different species, which bloom different sorts of blossoms.
Canna lily generally blooms mid-summer to fall but you need to take proper care consistently throughout the entire year with its preferred requirements.
Canna Lily Plant Care:
Here is a quick overview in this regard-
- Soil: It prefers rich and moist type soil that is retentive but drains well. Keep the pH level slightly acidic between 6.0 to 6.5
- Water: Canna lily plants needs a bit extra water than normal flowering plants. Try to water it twice a week, especially, during summer, and never let the top surface gets dry completely ever.
- Fertilizer: Apply any balanced organic fertilizer that is rich in nitrogen content. It would be best if you did the fertilization two to three times during the growing seasons, and once in regular seasons. Apply it in a 5-10-5 NPK ratio for the best result
- Sun Exposure: This species of lily can tolerate full sun exposure. However, you can place it under the sun with partial shade as well. Try to provide it 6-8 hours of bright sunlight daily
- Climate: Your canna lily plant always seeks a highly warm and high humid climate to thrive well. Place it in a condition with 75° to 90° F temperature with the hardiness zone through 7-12
- Pruning: A canna lily plant grow bushy during its blooming seasons. Try to do the job exactly before the blooming starts by removing the dead or infected parts entirely. However, you can try pruning throughout the year but only remove the extra bushier or leggy segments in this process without hampering any newly grown shoots.
- Pests and Bugs: Rusts, slugs, snails, spider mites, caterpillars, blights, etc. are some common troubleshooting issues you may face with a growing canna lily plant. Check for these problems attentively every few whiles and apply the best suitable remedy instantly to let these issues impede the health of your plant anyhow.
How to Overwinter Canna Lily Plant:
Due to being a tropical plant, canna lily gets difficulties surpassing the frost of winter. However, some smart tips can save you easily in overwintering canna lilies effortlessly.
So, let’s get a bit of information about how to overwinter canna lily expertly with these rapid tips-
- If you live in a country with a normal winter temperature then, let them stay in your garden or planter. canna lily plant holders, who live in a hardiness 8+, should leave them in the ground without any worries
- But, if you stay in a country with too much frosty weather, you must dig up the tuber and store them carefully indoor
- To do so, wait till the cold kill the foliage entirely, then, dig up the bulb carefully under the ground
- Try to do it with a garden fork or spade shovel that is properly disinfected. After digging them up, place them on paper in a single layer, once you clean the soil molds properly
- Keep them this way in a warm place to dry naturally for a whole week
- Now, bring a clean cardboard box filled with peat moss or coco coir or perlite, or vermiculite
- Place the bulb separately in a single layer of the base and place the box in a storage room like a basement, cellar, garage, etc.
- Make sure the temperature of the room remains 40-60° f throughout the winter
- Try to spritz a layer of water with a sprayer once a week to keep them hydrated
- Wait till spring and, replant those bulbs again in your ground or planter accordingly.
How to Make Canna Lilies Bloom?
If you find that your canna lily plant isn’t blooming in time, you should pay little attention to your plant immediately.
Fortunately, this problem is curable and you can boost the blooming quality of your plant with some basic tricks. Such as-
- Add an extra layer of peat moss to the planting soil immediately
- Try this process, if the soil seems too heavy or damp
- Make sure the soil drains well and never turns soggy ever
- Try applying mulch around the base of your canna lily plant
- This will keep the soil evenly moist without making it waterlogged
- Establish a new fertilizing schedule for your plant with nitrogen-rich fertilizer
- Try to feed it every two weeks during the growing period and season water after applying it
- This may stimulate flowering with larger and more vibrant blossoms shortly
- Make sure you give the canna lily plant enough space to thrive, or they won’t bloom
- Plant each plant 2-feet apart when you sow them in a row and use a wide planter for indoor canna lily plants.
Why and How to Deadhead Canna Lilies?
Deadhead is the process where you remove or pluck the dead or about to dead flowers to encourage new blooming. You should do the process before the seeds are produced.
Why to Deadhead Canna Lilies?
You must deadhead a canna lily flower to keep the plant robust and leave the new bloom enough space. Try to do the process, when you find the flowers start fading on the stem after a certain period.
In short, your deadhead process will encourage the canna lily plant to bloom once again in the next blooming season. It also helps to pause a clear and poised glance at your plant; apart from enhancing the overall appearance of the foliage immaculate.
How to Deadhead Canna Lilies?
- Wait till a flower starts fading to deadhead it
- Try not to touch or damage the rhizomes of the plant during the process of deadheading
- Pick a time, when the utmost cluster of canna lily flowers seem faded
- Trim off the leaves first exactly underneath the faded flower with a disinfected shear
- Be alert for not damaging any new flower buds during this process
- Deadhead accurately about ¼ inch above the bud and right beneath the calyx part
- Hold the faded flower stalk with one hand and use another hand for cutting
- Let the flower and stalk straight down to the ground, once you cut it properly
- After completing the process, look after if there any stem or bud has got damaged during this procedure
- If yes, then trim that segment too, before it starts affecting other healthy parts of your plant
- Finally, feed your plant with a layer of nitrogen-rich fertilizer to encourage the batch of blossoms soon.
How to Divide Canna Lily?
To divide a canna lily perfectly, wait till the plant finished blooming and the leaves die back on the stem. Now, simply follow these steps accordingly-
- Once the period comes, dig up the entire plant from the ground or your planter first
- Clean the rhizome mass and cut any leggy stem or leaf, that is longer than 2.5 inches
- Take a disinfected knife and cut the rhizomes separately with a one-eye section on each part
- Store the rhizome individually during the frost and then, replant them in a new planting ground or planter separately
- Remember that, you must keep the divided rhizomes in a place warmer than 45-50° F temperature to let them the healthy. Otherwise, your divisions won’t regrow after the replantation, no matter how hard you try!
Are Canna Lilies Poisonous to Cats?
Canna lily plants are from those lily categories, which are safe for your house pets, including cats. Depending on the research reports of Cannasol Pet Safe Collection, you can have a growing canna lily and a cat together in the house without any fear.
However, that doesn’t mean your loving kitty can take a bite of canna lily, whenever it wants! Try not to keep the plant near your cat or let it gulp any part. Ingestion may provide some mild reactions in a cat, like vomiting or mouth irritation, but it will never get fatal for your cat for sure.