Many gardeners are also genealogists, interested in learning more about the plants they grow than just their size, bloom period, and color. Delving into the history of various plants is a wonderfully relaxing and informative pastime when the weather doesn’t favor gardening, and adds to a further appreciation of the diversity of a garden. One example of the many plants with fascinating backgrounds as world travelers is the Canna, which is commonly seen in private and public gardens throughout the South Plains. Cannas are New World tropical plants which were first discovered in the West Indies in the late 1500s and brought back to Europe by Spanish and Portuguese explorers. For the next 400 years they spread via trade routes to France, Germany, England, India,
China, and many other locales. In Europe they achieved great popularity during the late 19th century, and the Canna became a favored plant of Victorian gardeners who saw reflected in its size, rich tropical foliage and exotic blooms a history of the British Empire, on which the sun never set.
European botanists were also busy developing new Canna hybrids, many of which were being sent back to the New World, almost unrecognizable from their early ancestors as they evolved into the beauty and forms we know today. At the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, the most popular flower exhibit was 76 large beds devoted solely to Cannas, and the American interest in these plants continued until the 1920s, when gardeners, fickle creatures that they can be, moved their Cannas to alleys and trash heaps, and indulged their new-found interest in soft, pastel cottage garden planting schemes. By the 1980s the pendulum had swung again, commercial growers resurrected the older hybrid and species Cannas and began creating new offerings in a wider variety of colors and bloom types.
Today we can find Cannas ranging from three to 12 feet in height; flower colors from creamy white through yellow, peach, orange, rose, and red; and with solid, striped, or splotched leaf colors of green, yellow, white, burgundy, red, purple, and orange. These are plants that are bright and beautiful, adding height, structure, and dimension to the garden. Some gardeners grow Cannas just for their large leaves and stunning foliage; some love the delicacy of the smaller orchid type blooms, while others prefer the larger and bolder gladiola shaped flowers. Hummingbirds are drawn to the nectar hidden deep in the throat of the smaller orchid type Cannas. There are a few Cannas which only do well in wet conditions, but most are happy in full sun with average soil, and moderate water, and will put on a truly spectacular show if the soil is amended with well-rotted manure. While many garden books advise lifting Cannas over the winter, I have never found this necessary. After they become a mushy mess with our first hard freeze, I cut them back to the ground and wait for the re-emergence of spring shoots. A late freeze will blacken these, but new shoots will reappear with no apparent harm to the plants. During the growing season, hail will shred the leaves, and the most seriously damaged of these can be cut back to the main stalk; spent flowers can be easily picked off or cut back gently just below the emerging seed pod to promote a second flush of blooms. Canna leaf rollers are sometimes an active pest; usually their damage is not great and they are best ignored.
There are many Cannas available locally which are named cultivars, while others are only labeled by bloom color. Some of the cultivars favored by gardeners in our area include the following: