I began soaking seeds the last week of February. A week later, I scarified them. I potted them up about 10 days later. The pots my wife didn't give away, I transplanted last week. I presume I'll be lifting some rhizomes this fall from that planting. I don't know if they'll bloom or not.

OK. So I store the seed (again, the little pods?), and then I can wait until winter to start? Descibe "scarified" for me, please. I assume you mean scraping or scarring, (and not saying, "boo!" LOL). Is this pretty easy with a low frustration level to obtain success? Thanks!

I'll be watching this one as well. I have several seeds from a canna that has never been in soil. It was grown in our pond for the past two years and this year it's in a 5 gallon bucket, but not doing near as well. I want to start some newbies in dirt (soil) to see if they're as hardy without all the H2o around the roots.

You don't need to keep the pods the seeds ripen in. Scarified means you take a file and nick the seed until you see some white through the tough coating. You can wait til winter to start. Time and patience are all that are needed to grow these from seed.

How long do the seeds need to stay in the pods to ripen on the plant? I've never cut one open, as I've always just left the pods for color and interest. Thanks!

Go to the FAQ's at the beginning of this forum and scroll down to where you see two links about canna seeds.
http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/canna/. One is on gathering seeds and the other is about starting seeds.

Good luck.

Julia

Forgot to add. If you do a search on this forum using the word(s) seeds or gathering seeds or starting seeds you will get alot of hits. Infact, you will probably have "information overload".
:-).
Julia

Scar the seeds. Put them in a glass of water for a week or two, till you see a small growth. Then pot or plant them. In about two weeks the plants will be coming up.

If you have seeds, do it this year. I think that there is still enough time in the season to produce rhyzomes that can be stowed for winter. And if you're worried about it it, then only do half the seeds and save the others.

Or, do them all in pots. That way the plants won't die at the first sign of frost and you could extend the frowing season a bit.

Good luck!

Thanks everybody! I look forward to this new endeavor.
Julia, thanks for the tips on how to use this web site better. These last months are my first at using a forum, and there seems to be more to be discovered every day, if I had the time. I'm still trying to figure out adding stuff to my page, etc., plus how to put photos inside the message. One thing at a time, though. I love these message boards and how much one can learn through reading! I can't wait to trade my first seeds with some local canna ladies and grow seedlings!

It's my first year growing cannas so I bookmarked alot of the information but there is so much helpful information on this site it takes weeks to read it all.
My search function doesn't always work and almost gets to the point of snail mail being faster than the internet.LOL.

Julia

It's very easy. I nick the seeds with a file tell yoy see white underneath the seed coat. I hold the seed with vice grips to hold them steady. Then place them in a tupperware type container with some moistened perlite. Put them in a bright window seal and walah, babies.

Then I transplant them out into one-gallon containers.

This past winter was my first to try winter sowing, and I was successful in getting several to grow from seeds...it was fun, and very easy. Info can be found on the winter sowing forum on this site :-)

make sure the pods have seeds. Some hybrids do not produce seeds.Even historical canna like "wyoming" are sterile.

What do you get from tropicana or the yellow variagated varieties? Are they fertile? Do they revert to green?