I think that in florida the canna will grow all year so no need to worry about 'cycles'.

Yes, you can ship a live plant although depending upon size you might want to chop it down a bit(I don't think I would want to pay for shipping a 6' plant). See my post in this thread for how a canna was recently shipped to me from a nursery for an idea of how to package it for the trip.

Alternately you could just give her a tuber after you dig yours up. I am pretty sure she could plant it anytime in Florida, but better wait for someone from Florida to comment on that.

HI, now this one I know the answer to. I live 25 miles west of Orlando. My cannas stay in the ground all year and bloom all year. I do cover them on the couple of nights that it drops to frost. If I forget I get a couple of dead leaves that I have to cut off or I can just cut it back and it will come up again. When I trade, I cut mine back to about 3-4inches from the ground. I wash them good with a hose so I can see where I want to separate them, wrap them in wet newspaper, and put them in a plastic bag to ship in a priority box. At the other end you just plant them and watch for the new leaves to come up. They will come up in a couple of weeks depending on how well they are watered and fertilized. They go in full sun down here, but some of mine are in partial shade and they bloom too. Cannas is my favorite flower and very adictive. SHE WILL LOVE IT!