How to Trim Canna Lilies

With oversized leaves and elegant stalks of red, yellow or orange flowers, the canna lily resembles its tropical relatives banana and ginger. Canna lilies grow as annuals in temperate climates and perennials in subtropical and tropical regions. Regular trimming means you will get more than two flowers per stem, greatly extending the bloom period. Trim each stalk on your canna lily plant the same way, in accordance with its bloom schedule.

Gardening shears

Instructions

- 1
  Trim back the spent end of a canna lily stem when the flower withers. Typically, this is one part of the stem, with another part below it containing a blossom bud. Discard the cut tissue.
- 2
  Allow the bud to develop and flower. When the new bloom fades, again clip back the stem end. Notice another shoot with another budding flower on the same stalk.
- 3
  Keep cutting off spent blossoms as long as your canna lily continues to produce new blooms on that stalk. If you're vigilant about deadheading spent flowers, this can be a long time.
- 4
  Cut the stalk down at ground level or just above ground level when no more flowering shoots develop, since the lily has exhausted its flower capability. This increases the amount of light that other stalks on the same plant receive, which increases their flowering capabilities.

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