I have been wanting to plant cannas into a kiddie pool for years. Maybe I wasn't brave enough before. Maybe I just didn't " have the time". Either way, I somehow managed to bring home a kiddie pool late this last spring.
I wanted to make sure it was sunken into the ground for two reasons: to protect the corms of the cannas from temperature extremes and to keep the edibles hidden from the NSA/the
Sheriff's Secret Police. I would really like the dirt and water to be able to insulate the cannas enough in the winter that they will no longer need protection.
Managed to dig the shallow pit in less than an hour. After placing the pool, I took it out a few times in order to get it leveled - which was when I discovered the front yard was sloped at much steeper angle than I had ever realized.
Once the pool was mostly level I filled up the water and began placing some plants in it - which was when I realized that though the pool looks shallow it is actually deeper than the height of my one gallon nursery pots. The plants were rolling/ floating sideways and then were losing their surface soil and mulch. I decided to fill the floor of the pool with plant matter from plants that I didnt want to keep, mostly African orange honeysuckle and purple Tradescantia pallida 'Purple Heart' (which I am unclear if it is edible or not.) I raised the floor of the pool about an inch, then began filling it with a few plants.
It was at this point that I had to break for the week, which gave me some time to think about pool pond garden. I decided to try putting a few fish in there. The next week I hit the local Walmart and bought 3 goldfish, knowing that one or all would probably die. Then I repotted a bunch of my cannas since I now had space to place them. I ended up filling the entire pool with pots, and didn't see a single goldfish as I did so - the water was a bit brackish at this point. Almost all of the cannas survived dividing and replanting, and most have bloomed now that a few months have passed.
I have been taking the plain red cannas out of the front yard and putting them into the back. I am going to be taking them out to the forest garden and the river garden, both of which have low areas which are moist at this time of year. I plan on keeping the yellow, yellow/orange, peach, and pink cannas here in the front. It's my hope that they will cross and make new colors. I have potted up two volunteer seedling cannas I found in my yard, plus saving and planting any seed.
