I received this plant 2 months ago. It was in a small pot and about 2 feet with a few leaves. It looked squished in the pot, so I replanted it into a bigger pot.
I have the plant in the house. I water it to keep the soil moist and give it direct sunlight as much as possible.
The plant seems to be healthy and has grown rapidly and is about 4 feet tall now.
I was told when I got it that it gets pink flowers.
Could you please tell me the name of the plant.
Also, how do I get the plant to flower?
Thank you for your help.
Dear gardener, you have a canna lily!
We think the variety is Indian shot (Canna indica). I was a bit confused since the leaves are so far apart. This is a symptom that your plant is light-deprived. Your plant really needs to be outside growing in full sun. The Canna lily (not actually a lily) is a tropical plant from the Americas, and loves at least six to eight hours of direct light.
Your plant will grow over six feet tall if it is happy, and will give you glorious flowers that hummingbirds love. Keep deadheading the flowers and you will get more. You need to bring in the rhizomes in the fall, dry them out for a day, and then overwinter them in a cool spot. Just wrapping them in newspaper, or covering them in peat moss or vermiculite during the winter will keep them viable. The rhizomes are huge, and you can easily get about six rhizomes per plant, and have potentially six new plants the following year. I start potting up the rhizomes indoors as early as March 1st, placing them in a south-facing window, but I only plant them in the garden after all signs of frost have gone (quite late this spring).