Canna altensteinii

Just thought some of you might like to see a couple of pics of a Canna altensteinii plant I grew from seed last year.

I sowed the seed (which I had from a plant I grew some 5/6 years earlier) in March last year and by late summer I had a wonderful 7/8 ft clump with subtle but gorgeous orange/apricot flowers.

It's not as showy as some those usually grown for tropical bedding, but I love this plant. It needs winter protection, but it's worth the effort. I grew it in a very large pot last year so I could wrap it up and move it in to the shed, but unfortunately such was the severity of the last winter here it still got at it and killed it. However I currently have 15 4" babies growing happily away on a sunny windowsill, again grown from the old seed I saved from my original plant.

It is an extremley vigorous and thirsty plant once growing outdoors, it regularly throws up suckers and forms quite a clump even in one year, no doubt if it was growing in the ground it would be quite something, I am considering doing this this year with some of them and keeping some in pots again.


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Bilbo - thanks for the pictures.

It looks a really good looking plant and very vigorous. I am currently growing some Canna tuerckheimii from seed, which is also very tall - only 6 inches tall at present. I have a feeling they are synonyms for the same plant. Is that so?

 

I like the look of both of these ,might give them a try ..
I have been growing Canna Musaefolia for a few years now ,usually gets to abot 7ft in tubs but as yet never had it flower.

Dave

 

Looking at Wikipedia, that says that C.altensteinii is indeed a synonym of C.tuerckheimii...

Chiltern Seeds have seeds of C.altensteinii back in stock this year; this is where I got the seeds of my original plant from 5/6 years ago and the picture they have of it is of a flower from that plant....

 

This year's babies coming along nicely on our warm but not too hot bedroom windowsill..

 

Bilbo - they are looking so healthy. I am amazed at how many you have. I had a packet of seed and only have two seedlings from it - so I am very envious.

 

Thanks Peter; and these were grown from old 6-7 year old seed that haven't always been kept in a fridge.

I sowed 20 and have 15 growing on.....

I usually keep around 6 plants for myself, especially having lost my plants that I was overwintering this time due to the extreme cold this winter..I then gift the others to local enthusiastic gardeners....

 

Patience Grasshopper! From the 8 seedlings I grew last Autumn, which I raised under a Metal Halide lamp, the flowers that appeared in December set seed and in January I got 250 seeds to sow for this spring

 

Ah so - Master Po - when I listen I can hear the Canna growing above the sound of one hand clapping

Bilbo I have just re-read your first post and realised that you were using your own seed. Which answers my question of will it set seed in this country. Kristen you didn't tell us that you had seed from your plant. My canna (from seed) last year grew and flowered outside, but I wasn't aware of any seed from it - though I must admit I never looked. It makes you feel like a banker when you get a bonus for doing nothing.

 

Peter, I first grew this plant from seed bought from Chiltern Seeds around 5/6 years ago, those plants; which I managed to keep alive for 3 years, produced masses of seed outside in the first and second year. I collected over 200 quality seeds in total.

I am still using those seeds now to produce new plants.

The plants that I grew last year did start to produce some seed pods in their first year but the large pot they were in blew over in strong winds and knocked them off unfortunately..

 

Hahaha! You daft so-and-so!

Blinking heck! Is it pantomime season? "Oh yes I did" :D

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/grow-lights-t1199.html?p=402755#post402755

(Don't want to rub it in, but you'll notice your replies in that thread, eh?!)

 

:gaagh: :gaagh: :gaagh:

what can I say?

 

Update: Here's this year's babies growing very nicely; I have just potted them up into 6" pots today and moved them out to a small greenhouse, their home for the next 4-5 weeks, weather permitting they will then be hardened off and some planted out, others sold/swapped/donated..

 

Looking good Bilbo. I have just repotted one of mine today - in fact into an oversize pot to see if it grows any better that the control in a smaller, proper sized pot next to it. This relates to a point raised in another thread about potting on.

I thought to put them outside, but decided that my sitting room window sill is the best ever greenhouse. They get bags of sun, and get really warm.

Incidentally, I was re-reading a bit in an earlier thread about Canna, where a specialist book suggested bringing the rhizomes back to life in the spring with bottom heat. On thinking about it, this is very sensible - its similar to using a heated propagator to kick start seeds into germination. And if you can get them going quickly it minimises the period between dormancy and growth, and the dangers of overwatering during this period.