You forgot to mention how these plants multiply like crazy. Right
now I am living in southern California and my cannas are spreading
like wildfire. I have given away dozens of the plants and they keep
coming!
In My Garden Blog
Middle South
June 18, 2009
By
Marian St.Clair,
Greenville, South Carolina
In Sharon Thompson's garden, blooms of Rosa 'Natchitoches Noisette' provide a pleasing color echo to the bronzy-purple foliage of Canna hybrid 'Wyoming.'
Count on Cannas
Are you looking for a flowering plant to add stunning height, bold texture, and bright color to the garden? If so, it's a no-brainer. Count on cannas.
A recent visit to the garden of my friend Sharon Thompson proved the point. In her lakeside landscape, Sharon grows wide swatches of burgundy-leaved 'Wyoming' and green- and yellow-striped 'Bengal Tiger' in an expansive bed of woody and herbaceous plants. There, the cannas proudly proclaim their presence, like a pair of drama-queens among genteel ladies.
Native to southeastern states, as well as parts of the West Indies and Central and South America, cannas are among the showiest, and in some cases the gaudiest, plants in the summer garden. Lush and tropical-looking, they feature large, banana-like leaves and tall flower stalks of vibrant blooms.
Flowers can be red, orange, salmon, coral, pink, or cream, and some are bicolored or speckled. Foliage is green, burgundy, or bronze, and some varieties display shocking stripes of red, pink, yellow, white, or cream. When backlit by the sun, large multi-colored leaves glow like stained glass.
Depending on the cultivar, cannas reach between 3 and 7 feet tall. The loftiest are stand-outs at the back of the border, while dwarf selections make excellent container plants. Wherever you grow them, cannas will be a focal point; they just can't help clamoring for attention.
Like Sharon, mix cannas with traditional garden plants such as daylilies, coneflowers, and roses to give the garden more punch. Or, create a simmering oasis by planting them with other tropical plants such as hibiscus, pentas, lantanas, elephant ears, gingers, castor beans, mandevillas, brugmansias, bananas, and hardy palms.
Here are a few tips to ensure success:
Like most tropical-type plants, cannas grow best in full sun and high heat. If you purchase container-grown selections, place them so the top of the root ball is even with the soil surface. If you choose bare root rhizomes, plant them 4 inches deep in a horizontal position with the eye facing up.
Give cannas plenty of room. Many grow into big plants as much as 3 to 4 feet wide, so space them at least 18 inches apart. A single specimen can anchor a small bed, but they look best in groups.
Although tolerant of dry conditions, cannas prefer plenty of moisture and can even grow in water. They're also heavy feeders. Before planting, amend the soil with organic matter such as compost, leaf mold, or soil conditioner. Then, during the growing season, feed plants with a water-soluble 20-20-20 fertilizer at least twice a month.
Cannas can be deadheaded for continual bloom. Cut each stalk to the ground after it finishes blooming, ensuring new stalks and flowers into the autumn months. If you prefer foliage only, just remove the flower spike.
After a hard frost kills the foliage, cut the stalks off at the ground, chop them up, and remove them to the compost pile, but leave rhizomes to overwinter in place. Cannas are hardy in the Middle South.
Too many cannas can equal too much of a good thing. To avoid landscape schizophrenia, limit your garden to one variegated type and one or two green, burgundy, or bronze-leaved selections.
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Comments on Count on Cannas
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We welcome your questions and comments about this column. If you have gardening questions unrelated to the column, please ask them on our message boards.
PMurcray
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Gail
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Thanks Marian for all of the helpful information sent to aid a
struggling gardener. Please include herb information sometimes, as
well as heirloom herb, flower, and vegetable information for me and
others who volunteer for Living History Parks.
Gail
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Can Indigo plants be transplanted now? (Indigofera tinctoria) What
is the best care and growing conditions for these plants?
Marian
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Gail,
Most plants can be transplanted any time given enough care, but the
best season to transplant in the Middle South is autumn. In
September and Ocotber, the soil temperature remains warm while the
air temperature begins to cool, and there is also less stress from
insects and disease. In general, Indigofera wants full sun, good
drainage, and regular water. Hard pruning in late winter will make
a more compact and attractive plant.
Clark
Several blogs have suggested mulching with straw and leaving cannas
in the ground over the winter. This is fine if you live in the sun
belt, but this won't work further north. If your soil freezes in
the winter your canna tubers will most certainly not survive.
Instead, remove the foliage, place in peat moss and store in a cool
dry environment. Or return to the nursery in late April.