I live in San Antonio.

I decided to give my friend who lives in North East Wisconsin a little "tropical look" to her yard.

She had never heard of cannas before. Cannas are the ultimate "pass along plant". So, this spring, I ordered her some bulbs. (Dwarfs with green leaves and pink flowers.)

She planted them late this spring. They slowly developed foliage.

A few weeks ago, she called me. She said that as the bulbs grew, the foliage looked just like plants that she slready had in her yard. So, she did some research and sure enough her plants were also cannas. (6 feet tall, burgandy foliage, large orange flowers...)

How they got there: She saw them at a local nursery,liked them, bought them, and planted them. But, she didn't know what they were.

Her cannas survived the winter and are thriving this year. She didn't know that they were tropicals, so she didn't do anything to protect them.

I read about how hard it is to over winter cannas outdoors in cold climates, yet every once in awhile a read about them surviving in extremely adverse conditions.

I'm glad that her's made it through the winter, because she really likes them.

Isn't that something?

I would think a dryer vent would cause a similar situation as in NY. (The thaw/freeze-mush cycle.) The dryer vent would probably work in warmer areas, such as the southern part of zone 6.

However, I did figure this out: Her house is on soil over a riverbank. Originally, I thought this would be a negative factor. But, I know a little bit about river banks from living in Texas: They are basically rock.

I wonder if there is a "root cellar" type of thing going on. Especially if the river ran fairly dry in the fall. This would provide decent amount of air within the rock spaces during the winter.

I guess this could help prevent rot. However, I don't know what the soil temps would be underground in cold weather.