Achira (canna edulis)

Good morning my permie friends.

Wondering if anyone can clarify something about Achira for me.  When I found out about the plant I did not realise that it was propagated by rhizomes only as it radrely sets seed and is unlikely to grow true from seed if it does actually happen to.

I bought 2 plants (seed started) from eBay, I’ve not been able to source rhizomes.  They are growing really well and I’ll plant them outdoors as soon as risk of last frost has passed (2nd week of May for me).  

My question is if it does not grow true exactly but still produces underground tubers will these be edible in the same way as a true Achira?  I can’t find anything on the old google machine to clarify this.  I assume by not growing true it would simply mean it might be a different colour or not grow as big for example but it would still be edible?

Also, I’m in the North East of Scotland where we have a temperate maratime climate, reasonably mild winters (although on some occasions like this year, we can experience -15 Celsius) and cool summers.  I think my area roughly equates to the US zone 8 hardiness scale.  If I were to grow my achira in the ground and give it a nice heavy mulch of wood chips over the winter, is it likely to survive?  Or should I just be safe and dig it up and take indoors?

Many thanks!  

 You can propagate your canna 's from seed and they will produce fine for you.  The main difference will be flower size/color etc...
They will still be very pretty, wild ones usually are very beautiful.  Yes they will still produce edible rhizomes as long as they are canna "edulas".
As far as your winters, you are right on the border... You might lift them out to divide them. Eat some, plant some out in spring. You could heavily mulch a couple and see if they make it okay.

Ralph Sluder wrote:  You can propagate your canna 's from seed and they will produce fine for you.  The main difference will be flower size/color etc...
They will still be very pretty, wild ones usually are very beautiful.  Yes they will still produce edible rhizomes as long as they are canna "edulas".
As far as your winters, you are right on the border... You might lift them out to divide them. Eat some, plant some out in spring. You could heavily mulch a couple and see if they make it okay.

Thanks very much. I’m excited to grow them.  

Keep us posted, Jodi.  I tried growing some canna from seed a few years ago, but they disappeared overwinter outside.  In retrospect I think they were a bit small.  Try and put them somewhere well drained, cold damp tends to do the damage in the UK, combined with lack of summer heat, rather than just winter cold.
I'm tempted to try again sometime, I may let them grow in the polytunnel though, if I can find a space for them.

Nancy Reading wrote:Keep us posted, Jodi.  I tried growing some canna from seed a few years ago, but they disappeared overwinter outside.  In retrospect I think they were a bit small.  Try and put them somewhere well drained, cold damp tends to do the damage in the UK, combined with lack of summer heat, rather than just winter cold.
I'm tempted to try again sometime, I may let them grow in the polytunnel though, if I can find a space for them.

Thank you I will keep that in mind.  I’ll definitely keep you updated.  It’s such a beautiful looking plant I’m really hoping I can manage to keep it alive!