How to Get More Canna Lily Blooms
Canna lilies make a tall, gorgeous, focal point in any garden. With broad, veined leaves that resemble banana plants and spikes of bright flowers, this plant can grow up to 6 feet tall. Canna comes in a rainbow range of luxurious color, from red to yellow, orange and white, and they bloom profusely from midsummer to early fall. They're easy to grow, and will multiply by themselves in the right climate conditions. You can also encourage more blooms, and even propagate them a little faster if you want to.
Encourage more blooms on a mature canna lily by deadheading faded flowers. Simply pinch them off with your fingers, and dig them into the soil at the base of the plant to provide more nutrients as they decay.
Promote more blooms on your cannas by paying careful attention to soil conditions. Canna lilies thrive best in loose, aerated soil. Be sure to cultivate the soil several times during growing season by spading it up and breaking up any clumps. Add peat moss to the soil if it's too heavy and damp. Water frequently, but not too much, as soggy soil will cause canna rhizomes to rot.
Establish a fertilizing schedule during growing season by adding plant fertilizer to the water every two weeks. This will stimulate more flowering, and you will see larger flowers in more vibrant colors.
Thin canna lilies periodically, so that the plants don't grow too close together. If they have to compete for nutrients in crowded conditions, they won't bloom as well as you'd like. They should be planted at least 2 feet apart and 2 feet apart from other plants in the garden.
Get more blooms the following year by storing canna rhizomes properly. The rhizome is much like that of the iris--hard, tubular roots that send out sprouts from "eyes." Dig up your canna rhizomes in the fall, before the first frost. Take a particularly healthy rhizome and snap it where it's narrow. Doing this will give you more separate rhizomes and more flowers next year. Wash them thoroughly, and set them out on newspaper in your basement to dry. Snip off the stems and trailing roots with scissors, and cut out any soft or diseased areas with a sharp knife. Place them in a box with dry peat, and leave them in a cold, dark area of your basement for the winter.
