I posted a picture and methond on how I germinate canna seed very easily done
Bev

Here is a link that might be useful: canna seeds

I used a Dremel to nick the seeds and soaked them close to 3 days -- no little roots appeared even though they swelled up considerably. I went ahead and planted them in a Jiffy-pot mini green house and stuck it in my window. I guess I should just wait and see. I got the seeds for next to nothing on Ebay. Next time, I'm buying the rhizome and skipping this seed stuff!

First off, all of my knowledge about cannas can be fitted on a matchbook cover written with a crayon. I was given some canna variabilis by a wonderful person in a newbie seed swap. I first used a sheet of sandpaper to remove the outside layer of the seed. Successfull but slow. Next I used a bench grinder at work. Rather fast, but I lost a few of the seeds when they went flying out of the pliers to parts unknown. In both cases my goal was to remove the outer shell and expose white. In both methods I found that the spot where the seed will sprout is visible as soon as you remove enough of the outer casing.

Growing canna from seed is fun; unless you're growing a species, you're never quite sure what you'll end up with. It's so easy to harvest your own seed and get them to germinate (even if you only soak them and don't nick the seeds, most will germinate eventually with some heat, although it may take some weeks), and they're no trouble to grow on. They reach flowering size in their first year, even in the cooler, lower light conditions of the UK. Who could resist it?