Great to see these beautiful cannas radiating a fabulous glow in Russell Square on this warm 1st September day in London.
Cannas grown in the UK are are normally at their best at this time of year and can provide a truly exotic look in one season as they grow very fast if fed and watered well.They do need consistent full sun to fully develop but also need damp soil that does not completely dry out. They are wonderful container plants but always keep the moisture content high.
These showy plants vary in size and stature from the very small Canna Lucifer which grows to no more than 45cm high, to giants like Canna Musiflora, which, in an average season will easily reach 3m or more.In total here are around 300 different types of canna now available . A popular choice is Canna Wyoming with orange flowers – far right below.
Most cannas are green leaved but a good many have variagated leaves in delicious shades of pewter-purple-maroon. A few are particularly spectacular with vivid variagation such as Pretoria and Durban.
Although they are manly treated as perrenials in the UK, some growers in sheltered locations do leave them in the ground, mulching with the dead foliage or straw. Only do this if you have light soil or a winter microclimate. Clay or waterlogged soil is just not suitable for leaving canna in the ground.
If you dig them into the ground make sure that you give them lots of rich compost in a sheltered spot where they can catch a good deal of sun during the day and enjoy the evening light as the sun goes down – they look wonderful with dappled light on them. For more information about choosing varities, take a look at Will Giles’ wonderfullly illustrated book called The Enclyclopaedia of Exotic Plants for Temperate climates http://www.exoticgarden.com/books.html .
To buy plants visit THE nursery specialists at http://www.hartcanna.com/ or many of the specialist nuseries listed on this blog can also provide an excellent range of canna plants http://www.myglobalgarden.com/blog/nursery-reviews
September 1st, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Cannas are fabulous, putting on a really good show at this time of year when many traditional herbaceous plants have gone over.