Balisier collecting and growing
Canna enthusiasts are well aware of the damage that slugs and snails can cause in their plants, and although the use of chemical slug repellents is a possible protection option, the preference is often towards more environmentally friendly methods, and that’s a good thing. So how can we win this war? Firstly, the bad news… … Read more
For those who live in the northern hemisphere and have not grown Canna from seed before, this may be a good time to start giving it some thought. The best time to plant the seeds is dependant on the facilities that you have available. If you have access to a propagator or heated greenhouse then … Read more
It is often forgotten that Cannaceae is a vegetable, that was turned into a garden cultivar by early horticulturists.
Each cell of a canna plant naturally has 18 chromosomes, or 9 pairs of chromosomes from the seed and pollen parents respectively. These plants with their paired chromosomes are termed diploid, from the Greek word for “double”.
Théodore Année, a wealthy, retired French diplomatic consul in South America, returned to France in the mid 1840’s and settled in rue des Réservoirs, Passy, Paris, where he devoted himself to the culture of tropical plants from South America, having brought back with him the taste for plants with beautiful foliage, especially the Canna genus. … Read more
In an article delivered to the International Dendrology Society by By Councilor Bern. Sprenger, the writer described the life of his cousin Karl Sprenger. Karl Sprenger was the creator of what we now call the Italian Group of Cannas. As an early orphaned child, Karl Sprenger spent his early youth among flowers and fruit trees, … Read more
An extract from the 1890 catalogue of the German horticultural giants Wilhelm Pfitzer.
Canna ‘Triomphe’ is a medium-sized Premier Group cultivar, with dark leaves and red flowers
What is in a name? When playwright William Shakespeare asked the question, “What’s in a name?” in Romeo and Juliet, he was referring to the idea that names themselves are a convention to distinguish things or people, but themselves do not have any worth or meaning. A rose if called something entirely different, would still smell … Read more
