i was wondering if anyone can help me with this plant it called a Tropicana plant or a canna plant ill try to post a pic i was reading about the plant and it said that you can leave the plant in the ground if you live in zone 7 or higher you should take it out if the ground if you live in zone 6 or lower for winter time. where i live it can be considered both zone. from what i was reading you should still cover with heavy mulch to protect it after its done growing for the season. From my research this plant is considered a bulb from what i gather so my question is should i take it out of the ground each year or will covering it with weed barrier cloth and mulch or a bunch of leave will do the trick. Side note i haven't bought the plant yet i going to go pick it up at the store within the next couple days. here is a link to a photo of the plant http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.plantplaces.com/trials/photos/CannaTropicana.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.plantplaces.com/perl/trials/ViewPlantDetails.pl%3Ffilter%3Dplant%26plant_ID%3D212&h=448&w=336&sz=82&tbnid=IxQXoFVxRoQmQM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtropicana%2Bplant&hl=en&usg=__PasaDKUGelw89JifBqll4lTma2o=&ei=4tgFTMyDBsX7lwex2O3pCg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=7&ct=image&ved=0CDgQ9QEwBg
The canna's root storage unit is called a rhizome. Since you are just getting these, I'd expect your rhizomes are healthy but not huge. That could make them more susceptible to freeze damage. Shadecloth or weed barrier alone will not be sufficient to winterize them. You'd be better with deep mulch, especially of a sort that will break down into soil enriching humus over time. Cannas do best with watering although I've seen some limp along in xeriscapes here in the humid central Florida area. Watering a dormant rhizome or planting in an area that gets inundated, such as a downspout would increase the chance of rot, and the chance of freezing. The Tropicana is a pretty canna, for sure. Looks especially nice in a big grouping, from several rhizomes rather than just one or two. If you have fewer, you'll probably want to plant something else around them, perhaps caladiums to cover the lower third of the cannas.
i wanted to put a bunch of mulch or a bunch of leave over the weed barrier clothe not just the weed barrier its self i have rock in the garden where i want to plant this and my husband doesn't like the idea of putting mulch down with out something underneath of it. so we could just pick the weed barrier up with the mulch or whatever in it when its time to take it off i also have iris in the garden that i plant and they came back up with out me winterizing them arent they considered rhizome to
Too cold where you live to let them remain, however having said that you may after a few years and some multiplication allow a few rhizomes to remain in the soil to test your micro-climate. Last Winter most likely would have killed all Cannas but some years and a few locations like in the center of a large metropolitan area are a critical few degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside.
Totally what saltcedar said. You likely would have lost them this past winter. As far as irises and their rhizomes, they are a different family of plants. Cannas are tropical or subtropical, while most irises are temperate. I can't grow the large beautiful irises that you can because my climate is too warm for them.
what if you put them in a big pot and keep them inside during the winter and outside during the summer will the stay blooming and growing all year round or should you still cut them down around fall like you would if they were outside
