Today Post::The cautious Canna

The cautious Canna ‘Tropicana’ has finally bloomed and with perfect timing it appears!


The Canna had thrown up a flower spike and I was hoping it would have bloomed sooner than it did.

I had originally planned to add the Canna bloom to my last post ‘Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day - September 2009′, however, it’s poor timing led it to open yesterday making it a late and cautious entry on to the blog.


Aside from its blooms the leaves of C. ‘Tropicana’ are truly wonderful.  The photo to your left does not do this plant justice.  The leaves are extremely vibrant and are made up of colours including pink, yellow, orange, red and green.


I have positioned the Canna next to Sedum spectablile ‘Autumn Joy’ and I find that they compliment eachother quite well.

The pink of the Sedum and the vibrant orange of the Canna add a great deal of colour to the Autumn garden and as we all know a garden with all year round colour is a valuable thing.


Although this display would have been been heightened if my Canna iridiflora had bloomed too.  Sadly I think that the wet, cool Summer had a somewhat negative effect on it’s development.  


This border is set to be divided and re-designed shortly and in the move the Canna’s will be positioned better to allow it maximum sun in the hope that they will flower more reliably.


As we all know Canna’s, being sub-tropical plants, love the sun, a nice warm soil to grow in and a good dose of fertiliser.  I use blood, fish and bone and a liquid foliar seaweed feed.  My plants also benefit from a homemade mulch which helps to reduce frost damage to the Canna rhizomes which remain in the ground all year round.


How have your Canna’s faired this year?  Do you have any tips for growing them?




Also, please remember entries for my competition to win a pair of professional Felco sceateurs need to be in by 1st October 2009.  You can enter by leaving a comment here.