Cannas – Pollinating

Q: We have started raising canna’s commercially and have several different varieties. I was told that we need to keep the different varieties separated to keep them genetically true. Is this correct?

A: Cannas have perfect flowers, meaning that each flower can pollinate itself or can accept pollen from other cannas nearby. The plant that comes from the hybrid seed may, or may not, resemble one parent or it may sport a mixture of the two parents’ appearance. If you don’t intend to hybridize cannas, simply collect all seed pods before they have a chance to fall to the ground in late summer. If you intend to hybridize the cannas you’ll have to study the flower structure and learn how to pollinate the flowers under controlled conditions.