A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Canna Lillies froze

I think I killed my canna lillies. They are only safe to zone 8 and I am definately in zone 7 and we have had some nasty cold nights. A couple down in the teens. Anyone with any thoughts or just leave them be and see if they grow?????

Hi Frustrated!!!
Got a question for you????

Where they coming up out of the ground???
Or they're safely tucked in the ground????

And where were they???
ie: near your house, in the middle of the back yard???

I personally am the eternal hopeful person,
leave them in and see, it can not hurt to leave them in.... when and if they don't come up, then replace it at a later date....

IMHO

Weezie

HI! It's going to depend on whether the rhizomes froze or not. If the ground did not have a freeze as deep as they are planted, they may be okay. Is it warm enought to dig down and check the condition of the rhizomes? If not, I'd take a wait and see attitude. If you do need to replace them, you'll know soon enough

They are planted on the end of our deck, next to the house, about 4-5 in. deep I guess. No they had not come out of the ground yet, as I just cleaned up the stalks that had been left over from last summer. I guess, I will just leave them be, and see what happens. If they do sprout is it too late then to move or seperate them????? Each one probably could be divided into 4 diff. plants.

HI,
I think maybe this time I can help. If your flowers are the ones I am thinking of, kinda tall with wide leaves and bright flowers ranging in colors from red to orange to yellow, sometimes even combos, than I have some good news. You probably don't need to worry, I had a ton of them in my yard at my previous home and they weathered very well. Even through that terrible ice storm we had a few years back,(1997)I think...They did so well that they reproduced almost like weeds. I was constantly digging them and giving them away because I had so many. Any way my neighbors next door to me have a yard full and they come back in full glory every year. (I am just getting my stand started at my new house.) So, if these are the same flowers don't worry, they'll come back. By the way, I'm in zone 7 also. Hope this helps some and Good Luck!

Frustrated,
I'd have to say, with them being by your house/porch....
What you can have when planting at the base of your house is something called a Micro~Climate...
Extending the heat of your home into the ground a bit of distance from it...
Micro climate discussions


That's even better yet, like Barb said, and they weren't even poking their heads out yet, I'll bet they're tucked in still...

I'm sure that they could be seperated when you first see them popping out, they're still little
enough to be seperated and not much harm to their roots systems...

I don't grow them enough to say yes or no...
*anything I have to pull out of the ground to survive up here (zone 7) don't get planted....

Maybe pcgrav can help with the seperating info???

Weezie

I would be glad to help,
The ones that grew so well in my other yard were no problem at all to separate. When I dug them up I just found a "center point" between the shoots and cut them with a clean sharp knife. Sometimes they broke by accident and they still did well when I replanted them but I really would not recommend breaking them but if they do break do worry too much about it. I have had pretty good luck with separating them even after the foilage was as tall as 12-24 inches but would not suggest you wait longer than that. The plants should be separated when they first start to appear, most certainly before they bloom, but not after they bloom -- what I mean is let the foilage die back and then reappear in the spring. These plants also did well in the shady areas of my yard, where they received only early morning and limited evening sun. Hope this helps.

I would vote they'll probably be ok& I'd leave them be till they wake up on their own.
I have a few at our lake lot at lake fork.Its probably more a zone 6b or 6.its clay& no ones there to protect or water before a freeze.They grow& live.

Now mine...they sprout all winter& for frosts I cover the shoots.I some with 1st leaves now I just need info for growing in water!

I'm in NC, zone 7 too. They'll be fine. I never dig mine up. I would wait until after they bloom to separate them though.

I'm in zone 7 and mine die back to the ground every year and come back up in the spring. They have not popped up this year yet. I trimmed the brown tops off yesterday while it was nice and warm outside, soon they'll poke their little heads up

Thanks for all the info, I am going to just leave them be. If they pop up out of the ground, then great, if not, will start over and remember to dig them up next fall, .

mine have died back all the way to the ground. If I had not dug up my fist batch at a house where I knew they came back every year I'd have been worried too. But they so far have came back everyyear. Like I said mine have not popped up yet. Usually it's in may when they start growing again. Just hang in there.