If you still think of Cannas as those old things then you are definitely behind the times! I know that for years we were inflicted with large beds full of nothing but in council plantings with no colour coordination what so ever and these beds are still out there! But as great tropical looking foliage plants for even cold climates they have little to compete with.
They are hard to kill and if given lots of water and a rich soil they will bounce out of the ground, some reaching amazing heights in the one growing season. The plant featured this time is one of the best for foliage,in fact its small red flowers at the end of the season are not the point at all. The huge paddle like leaves on dark stems look incredible with ornamental grasses and splashy bold flowers like Dahlias.
This is a very old cultivar rarely offered today as people seem to think that with smaller gardens we need shorter plants. WRONG! One goodly clump of C.’Grande’ will be truly far more telling than a whole troop of little nothings. It can in fact reach about 3meters if happy.
I have big plants in 8″ pots at the moment for $18.50 and they are clean of virus which is something that many growers won’t tell you about and it is a debilitating problem.
