Canna tubers take quite some time to break dormancy, especially if they have had perfect storage conditions. There will be little sign of new growth — perhaps just a few tips of new shoots emerging from the tops of the tubers.

I take apart the clumps of tubers and plant several in damp soilless mix in plastic-lined cardboard boxes. For the first few weeks a lot of light will not be required, but the boxes should be placed in a warm location. Once the tubers begin to sprout new top growth, bright light will be needed; at this time I usually put the boxes in a cold frame on my back patio that has auxiliary heat for cold nights.

For years we were restricted to varieties with green leaves and scarlet-red flowers. Now, however, many cannas have colourful striped leaves and pink, apricot, or dark-red flowers.

Although cannas are wonderful container plants, the containers must be large enough to be in scale with the relatively large plants, as some can grow almost two metres high with large leaves.

Cannas also make great specimen plants in the centre of island beds, or to delineate the entrance to a garden room by using them as gateposts. A single large tuber will produce several stems, but if you want a larger clump, plant several tubers close together to achieve the effect you desire.

A bank of cannas makes a great backdrop for other plants in a large mixed border. A solid row of green-leafed cannas would create a monochromatic background that would showcase the plants in front of it, while a row of bright variegated cannas with yellow-striped and/or burgundy-striped foliage would draw the eye to the back of the bed. “Tropicana” has vibrant-red, orange and gold stripes on its leaves, while “Tropicana Gold” has bright-yellow stripes on its green leaves. “Black Knight” has dark burgundy leaves and brilliant-scarlet blooms.

Cannas can be mass planted in a bed to create an impressive focal point in a large landscape, particularly when the bed is located so that it is viewed at a distance from the main living areas. They can also be planted along a fence or wall to make these mundane features more attractive. Dotting cannas here and there in a large mixed border will create colourful focal points. Shorter cultivars can be used as edging plants to separate garden rooms (such as a lawn and a vegetable patch), while taller varieties can be used to screen unsightly views. If you want your cannas to put on a great show all season long, get them started soon so that you can incorporate many of these stunning plants in your landscape.

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Every year I like to try a couple of new plants in my outdoor garden and I while away quite a few hours during the wintertime looking at catalogues and deciding which newcomers I will welcome into my garden. Often, but not always, I grow these new-to-me plants in containers so that I have more control over the growing conditions.

One of the “new” plants that I am going to try this year is elephant ear (taro), Colocasia esculenta. This plant is native to the tropical regions of eastern Asia and Polynesia, so I am hoping that the plant will add to the tropical atmosphere that I try to create on my back patio. The heart-shaped leaves of the elephant ear are very large and I am hoping that it will be a real focal point in my sitting-out area. The plant is substantial, being over a metre tall, but the leaves give it even more substance because individual leaves can be over a metre long and almost a metre wide.

I am unsure whether to purchase a green-leafed variety or to go with a more exotic one like “Black Magic” with its almost black leaves. “Jet Black Wonder,” a black one with white veining on its leaves, and “Yellow Splash,” a green and yellow one whose leaves have similar variegation to the common pothos plant that many of us have in our homes are two other possibilities. I will have to see what is available in the local garden centres. The plants are usually purchased as bagged tubers for spring planting.

Elephant ear plants can be used in beds as well as in containers and will be focal points in a mixed border. They love water and make great additions to bog gardens or plantings along the edges of ponds where water is in abundance. Wherever they are grown, taro plants need lots of water — if grown in containers daily watering will be required. When a taro plant is grown in a mixed bed, mulching the plant will conserve water and extend the length of time between waterings. Surrounding plants, however, must be chosen carefully so as not to include any that might object to the high moisture levels in the soil required by the taro. The elephant ear is also a heavy feeder and biweekly fertilizing with a high-nitrogen plant food is recommended.

The large leaves of the elephant ear are susceptible to wind damage, so a taro must be located in a sheltered location. The plant can be grown in full sun but also will perform well in shade or semi-shade. Whether grown in the ground or in a pot, taro likes a rich soil containing lots of organic matter.

When a taro tuber is purchased it will usually come in a plastic bag that should be opened to ensure that the tuber is healthy and intact and not mouldy from too much moisture. By planting it indoors in late March/early April, a good-size plant will be achieved by mid-May. Plant the tuber horizontally so that the growing tip is just covered by the planting medium. Being a tropical plant, the elephant ear will not tolerate frost. The tuber is dug in the fall — or the container taken indoors — and stored for the winter in a similar fashion to canna tubers. The tuber can be left in the pot, or it can be buried in peat moss and stored in a cardboard box. Recommended storage temperature is about 5 C. Knowing that I can easily store my new elephant ear tuber for use again the following year is even more incentive for me to try this interesting plant in my garden. It will be a long-term investment!

Trying something new? How about elephant ear?

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Acidic soil: has a pH below seven, typical of clay soils. Azaleas, camellias, dogwoods and roses like acidic soils.

Alkaline soil: has a pH of seven or higher.

Annual plant: lives one year or less, planted in the spring after the last frost. During this time, the plant grows, blooms, produces seeds, and dies.

Balled and burlapped: is when the roots of the plant have soil attached and are held in place with burlap or some other material.

Bare root: is when the roots of the plant are bare, with no soil.

Biennial: is two seasons duration, from germination to maturity and death, usually developing vegetative growth the first year and flowering, fruiting and dying the second year. Biennials need exposure to winter temperatures to trigger flowering or fruit production the second year.

Bulb: is a resting stage of a plant that is usually formed underground and consists of a short stem base bearing one or more buds enclosed in fleshy leaves and buds (tulip, daffodil, etc.).

Corm: is a rounded, thick, modified underground stem base bearing membranous or scaly leaves and buds (gladiolus, crocus, etc.).

Crown: is the base of the plant, where the stem and root meet.

Cultivar: is a cultivated variety or strain that originated and has persisted under human cultivation.

Deadheading: is removing the dead blossoms. If a plant is termed “self-cleaning,” the blossoms fall off on their own. Deadheading usually extends the blooming season.

Deciduous: is a plant that loses its leaves seasonally, usually in the fall.

Determinate: is when the growth of a plant stops at a certain height (usually in reference to tomatoes).

Dormancy: is the period in the life cycle of a plant where it is “asleep” and not actively growing, brought about by cool temperatures and shorter day length.

Evergreen: is a plant that stays green year round.

Floriferous: bears flowers/blooms freely.

Germination: is the sprouting of a seed and the commencement of growth. Also used to describe the starting of plants from seeds.

Grafted plant: is when the top (desirable) part of the plant is grafted onto rootstock, usually of a hardier or less rare plant.

Heirloom seeds: are mostly open-pollinated seeds that have been planted and passed down for generations. Most lack disease resistance.

Herbaceous plant: dies back to the ground in winter and returns again in the spring.

Herbicide: is a chemical used to destroy undesirable plants and vegetation.

Hybrid seed: is the result of cross-pollination of parents that differ in size, colour, taste or other traits. Seeds from hybrid plants cannot be saved and used again, as they will revert back to one of the parents.

Indeterminate: is a plant that continues growing until pinched or killed by frost (opposite of determinate). These plants usually require staking.

Organic seed: has been grown and harvested without being exposed to any inorganic chemicals, fertilizers, hormones, etc.

Pelleted seeds: are small seeds (petunias, pentas etc.) that have been coated with an inert material such as clay to make them easier to handle.

Perennial: is a plant that lives for three or more seasons. Perennials may not bloom the first season planted, especially ones that are shipped bare root.

Rhizome: is the somewhat elongated, usually horizontal subterranean plant stem that is often thickened by deposits of reserved food material that produces shoots above and below the roots (bearded iris).

Rootstock: is the root system of a more common or hardy variety that is used to graft a more desirable variety onto, usually roses and/or standard forms.

Self-pollinating plants: do not require pollen from another plant in order to produce fruit.

Standard: is a shrub or herb grown with an erect main stem so that it forms or resembles a tree.

Sucker: is undesirable growth coming from the rootstock of a grafted plant.

Treated seed: has been treated with an insecticide or fungicide to aid in preventing soil insects or disease from destroying the seed prior to germination.

Tuber: is a short, fleshy, usually underground stem bearing minute scaly leaves, each of which bears a bud in its axil and is potentially able to produce a new plant (iris potato, caladium, tuberose begonia).

Founded in 1920, the National Garden Bureau is a non-profit organization.

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Cannas, as you may know, are related to rabbits. Well, not really, but they do multiply just about as fast and so a number of years ago I was given a few canna tubers by a friend who had boxes of the things. I almost refused the generous offer but then I thought I might be able to overcome my reluctance to grow cannas again by giving them a head start in the spring. This strategy has worked well for me over the last number of years and I now grow a lot of cannas and have increased my collection to include not just the old green-leafed, red-flowered variety but new varieties with various coloured flowers and marvellous bronze or colourfully striped leaves.

If stored properly, in a cool, dark location, cannas will take quite some time to break dormancy and begin to put forth new growth in the spring. My first couple of trials of this technique were somewhat less successful because I didn’t get the tubers going early enough. I have learned that they should be planted indoors by April 1 for best results. Because they would take a lot of space if each tuber was potted up separately, I simply cut the bottom of a sturdy cardboard box, leaving the sides about 20 cm high, then I line the box with plastic and fill it with dampened soilless mix. I plant the canna tubers into this potting medium, crowding them in as close as possible – they do not seem to mind if they are touching their neighbours.

I place this box in my sunroom, but anyone who doesn’t have a sunroom could simply keep the box in the house – good light is not required for the first few weeks as there will be no top growth; warmth is what is required to break the tubers’ dormancy. Only when top growth emerges does the box need to be placed in good bright light – by this time, usually late April, I have my cold frame set up on the back patio and the box goes into the cold frame. The cannas continue to grow and sometimes they get higher than the sides of the cold frame, which makes putting the lid on the cold frame difficult on frosty nights so I often have to move the box out of the cold frame and put in against the south wall of the house and on cold nights I simply lean a couple of boards against the wall to hold an old blanket in place to cover the cannas.

The cannas are kept well watered and after top growth is well established I add a bit of soluble fertilizer to the water. When planting-out time arrives – early June in my parts – the rooted cannas are gently taken out of the box one by one and planted in the landscape wherever I want them. Extras are potted up and donated to be sold at our local garden club plant sale. By mid-July I begin to enjoy canna blooms and by the time Jack Frost appears in the fall most of my cannas will have bloomed themselves out and I will be quite happy to put them back into storage for another winter, content with the knowledge that I have been able to enjoy the display of bloom from my cannas for a good part of the summer.

– Albert Parsons writes from Minnedosa, Manitoba

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Artificial lighting comes in a mixture of different wavelengths of light. A complete balance of light is sunlight, which includes the spectrum of the rainbow. Grow lights closely resemble the sun’s spectrum, and are ideal for starting seeds and growing plants, and flowering houseplants such as violets do well under them.

Incandescent lights (most household light bulbs), give off shades of the rainbow’s red light that is important for plant growth and formation of buds and flowers, yet they lack the essential, blue, and the high heat emitted off household bulbs is more dangerous to work with than traditional fluorescent lights.

Energy-saving Warmlite and Coolite fluorescent bulbs produce excellent short, stocky bedding plants beneath the blue spectrum of light, but they do not have enough red light to produce an abundance of flowers.

High-intensity discharge (HID) bulbs are not economical for home gardeners and are used mostly in large commercial buildings, where high light is necessary. They are expensive and need a heavy electrical system for additional safety. HID lighting often develops more leggy, stretched plants.

My choice of lighting is a mix of Coolite fluorescent and grow lights. The lesser heat released from these bulbs make them more suitable to place plants closer to the light without burning the tiny leaves, while supplying enough light spectrum to grow stocky, healthy bedding plants within a few months.

Plants need rest along with light. Tuberous begonias need at least 14 hours of lighting each day to grow ample, healthy foliage before the plant begins to form tubers. Without enough strength in the top growth to feed the tubers, the plant will quickly die. Geraniums and other sun-loving plants will require a day length and intensity of candle light that closely resembles the sun to form blossoms yet not become tall and straggly. Timers are useful for accurate timing.

As the seedlings advance they will require thinning and must be transplanted into a basic soilless mix, along with additional weekly liquid fertilizing according to package instructions. When spring weather permits, move the seedlings to the greenhouse or into cold frames to become more acclimatized before planting in the garden.

The act of supplementing daylight with indoor lights during the shorter days of winter not only produces superior bedding plants, but leads to a more advanced hobby for gardeners awaiting spring. Thoughts of early tomatoes are reason enough to “turn on the lights.” – Lillian Deedman writes

from Killarney, Manitoba

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Gloxinias are tropical plants that originate from the rainforests of Brazil. They have satiny, trumpet-shaped flowers which resemble bells turned upward and are borne on sturdy stems that support the flowers well above the foliage. The leaves are lush and velvety. They come in a wide variety of colours, from the richest royal purple to luxurious dark red, but they also are available in more pastel colours such as soft pink and pure white. Many gloxinia blooms have white edgings or throats of a contrasting colour.

After purchasing a gloxinia tuber, it should be planted in a six-inch pot in moist soilless mix. The pot should have some drainage material placed in the bottom as these plants insist on excellent drainage. A coffee filter or piece of paper towel will prevent the potting mix from getting down amongst the drainage material.

A gloxinia tuber is planted concave or stem side up and is covered with about two centimetres of the planting medium. The tubers are prone to rot at this stage so they must be watered sparingly until growth appears. I often dampen the planting medium with a solution of No-damp and also briefly soak the tuber in such a solution before I plant it. This will deter rot. It is best not to fertilize a newly planted tuber for six weeks.

Locate the planted gloxinia tuber in a bright, warm spot. Gloxinias appreciate bright light and moderately warm temperatures, and are good candidates for an indoor light garden, although the foliage must be kept well away from the fluorescent tubes because they will be scorched if they are allowed to touch the hot tubes.

Although gloxinias are relatively easy to grow, two common problems often occur: either a gloxinia’s growth becomes leggy or it fails to bloom. The most common cause of both these problems is poor light. Using high-nitrogen fertilizers will also cause more leaves than flowers to be produced, so a fertilizer high in potash is recommended.

When a gloxinia has finished blooming, water should be withheld until the soil dries out and the foliage dies down naturally. Then the pot can be stored in a cool, dark place for a rest period of about three months – this is usually during the fall and early winter. The stored tuber should be checked regularly and if new growth appears, the pot should be brought out of storage, watered and allowed to develop active growth again. In a few weeks it will once more be in full bloom.

For those gardeners who enjoy propagating their own plants and like the challenge of starting new plants, gloxinias

can be propagated by seed. You must allow a couple of spent flowers to form seed pods and allow the seeds to fully mature before you harvest them if you choose to collect your own seeds. Gloxinia seed is available from some seed houses or you can save your own. The seed should be scattered on the surface of damp starting mix and then enclosed in plastic. Germination takes about four weeks.

Gloxinias also can be propagated from cuttings. Leaves, with stems trimmed to about four centimetres, can be inserted into damp soilless mix and covered with a plastic enclosure. The cuttings should root in about six weeks. Using rooting hormone and No-damp will increase the rate of success. Eventually a small tuber will develop from which a small plantlet will form. When the plantlet gets a manageable size it can be potted up and it eventually will develop into a full-size gloxinia.

If you want to enjoy the satiny blooms of a gloxinia, keep your eyes open at the garden centres for the arrival of gloxinia tubers. You will be enchanted with the beauty of these old-fashioned houseplants, and yours may become an old friend that you will keep around for years to come.

– Albert Parsons writes from Minnedosa, Manitoba

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