Canna Selection Advice

Thanks PeterS and Pete for the canna sticky in this section , I found it really helpful . It seems that the safe way to grow canna is from seed starting them early Feb. As a canna newbie , I have probed around on the web and have come up with this short list. I want canna that will grow around 1m tall and hopefully flower first year.
Canna warscewiczii
Canna indica
Canna tropical red
Would these be a good starting point for growing canna? Also which is the best source for reliable seed - Ebay or Harts canna ?

This site below seemed to be over the moon with the warscewiczii type - dont ask me to pronounce it :dh:
http://www.cooltropicalplants.com/Growing-canna.html

 

Harry, it depends what you are looking for.

Most species cannas only have relativity small flowers, and people that like the tropical look in a garden tend to grow them for the foliage, the small flowers being a bonus.

I like larger flowers so you really need seed from hybrids.

Not read up on tropical red, but that sounds like a hybrid, maybe.

I grew Warscewiczii from seed this year, personal thoughts are, I'll not bother keeping it through the winter, easy to grow and flower, but the flowers of a very bright red are just too small.
I cant pronounce it either:wink:

It is still possible to find virus free plants available of named varieties I believe, you just need to be very careful when buying them.

 

Harry - apart from having read a book on Cannas - I am a complete novice. :D

As a novice I am not looking to go for anything special, so I will be buying some seed from Jungle Seeds http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/SeedOrders/contents/en-uk/d20.html early this year I got their red Tropicana seed and was very pleased with it - it flowered in its first year.

I note that there is a large flowered hybrid mix available. And one I fancy trying is Canna tuerckheimii. I can see that the flowers are small, but a 16 ft plant might make up for that :D. Do you know anything about it Pete?

 

No,not heard of it Peter, I doubt it will make 16ft though.

I'm tending to think that unless its got a good foliage colour, the small flowered "species" plants are not for me.

But please try it and let me know how it does.

 

I bought two packets off eBay this Autumn - a 5-seeder and a 10-seeder. 100% germination (apart from one that I split in half in my Mole-grips trying to "nick" it with my craft knife having adopted that method to avoid amputating my fingers!)

I had got a bit gun-ho and assumed that the rock hard seed was, indeed, rock hard - turns out to be not quite so.

I have mine under a grow light. 5th leaf just appearing and its not yet 3 weeks since germination IIRC. Gawd knows what I will do with them by last-frost time next spring! Only my self to blame as the bloke on Gardeners World said "I like to sow them in the Autumn and keep them under a light for the Winter so that they flower the following Summer" ... so I just followed suite ...

I have warscewiczii, which has the dark foliage I am after, and Tropical Red - which is green leaved. Can't tell you any more about them until next year though ...

 

Pete - I am not really expecting Canna tuerckheimii to reach 16 feet, as Jungle Seeds says, but it could be interesting. My garden is so full in the summer - the only way left to go is upwards. :dh:

Kristen - I think that is the major problem with growlights - its what you do afterwards. I have just potted up my cuttings. As cuttings, several to a pot, they just fitted into my lightbox. As individually potted up plants they now occupy five times the area. The problem has started :D - all my windowsills are already occupied. :D And I want the lightbox for some early seeds.

 

I've got a whole load of Geranium cuttings, currently in pans. I'm hoping they will be happy to stay in those pans until the Spring ... but its unlikely now I've given them some good light and warmth :(

I also took some cuttings of Hydrangeas - they probably won't now lose their leaves .... but OTOH will make bigger plants.

I have already figured that my £100 spend on grow lights has turned out to be just an initial investment!

 

Thanks all for the advice on selection. Pete I'll take on board what you say and forget the small flower "canna warscewiczii" , and go for the larger flower hybrids. I have just bought some "canna tropicana red" seeds on eBay - it does have a good write up on Jungleseeds. Then I just need to select another large flower hybrid and wait until late January :thumb:

 

I read to use nail clippers to "nick" the seed. Not having read that at the time I used a craft knife, which was pretty lethal - as I mentioned above. I'd be interested to know if nail-clippers make the job easy as I'm sure they would be safer. Best to work on the assumption that the seed will fly-off, so perhaps have something to contain it ans stop it rolling away - and under the furniture!

 

Kristen I alway use a saw file to put a nick in the seed coat of hard seeds.

 

Sorry to be thick, but what's a "saw file"?

 

Sorry your not thick I guess its me being a bit stupid, of course if you have never sharpened a saw, most people dont these days with hardpoint disposables being the trend, its a small fine triangular file.

Cuts a nick in a seed coat with just a few strokes and you can hold the seed in your fingers while doing it without any chance of cutting them.

 

Ah! A file for saws. Now I understand. The revelation is a bit like "Four candles" ... "Handles for forks" . I even own one, and I can see how appropriate it is now, thanks.

 

:D, "four candles":D, that one will live forever.

 

Update on the canna , I planted 6 tropical red seeds last saturday, and 5 have germinated and will be coming off the prop today. A word off advice if anyone else is thinking of growing canna , scarifying the seed coat is hard work ! I used a saw file ( or file for saws :D) but I supported the on little pillar of blue tak and held them with a pair of pliers. It still took quite a few strokes to break through the coating , thus the name indian shot ! How the heck do they germinate in the wild ?