Canna's on the move

Stunning photos Pete, I occasionally get new leaves coming in a tight spike with just the very tip unrolled; the flower spike that is coming is the only one out of 6 plants so far.

Interesting that the leaves on your altensteinnii are large and floppy resembling a banna as mine have never really quite got that big; this is mine from last year in a large pot and reaching 7-8ft in height and a pic of the flower with another flower spike behind :thumb:

 

Bilbo - thats a beautiful plant in your photo. Its funny how mine looks much more floppy that yours (its not shortage of water) - but they both have the same long leaves suggesting that your altensteinnii is the same as my tuerckheimii. I think the secret must be to grow it in a very sheltered position. But thats not easy to find.

I was hoping for that hot summer, to get some real height on it.

I have just noticed that Harts Cannas sell seeds of both altensteinnii and tuerckheimii, whilst other sites say they are the same.

Pete - I meant to say above, about pots, that when I have emptied some large pots that had been outside in the sun, I have been amazed at how warm the compost is even in the centre of a 35 litre pot.

 

Nice pictures Peter and Bilbo.

I'm thinking we would all like a nice long warm spell before autumn, which is not that far away now.:(

 

Just over two months later here are the two lots of Canna altensteinii;

Pic 1 are in the ground, note one flower bud.

Pic 2 are in pots, also note a flower bud.

Both are equally as healthy but the ones in the pots are definitely taller :thumb:

 

Anyone tried growing them as marginals in a pond.

I did one year and the plant in question grew like the clappers and flowered well.
Trouble is I cant remember which culivar it was, (yellow flowers I think), as I understand it, some will grow well waterlogged and some wont, depending on parentage.

 

Hi Pete, I could well imagine that 'altensteinii' would grow well in the moist ground around a pond or as you say in the margins; it is a very thirsty plant. I remember reading the discription of it in the catalogue from my original seed supplier if it and they said it grew by streams in its native habitat.

This is the description, just found it;

"Probably virtually new to cultivation in these Islands is this magnificent Canna species. Found in the wild along the banks of streams and rivers, it is a stately, substantial (note the height!) plant. Clump-forming with stout stems sporting a wealth of large (3 x 1½ ft.), apple-green leaves, it bears numerous clusters of small, exotic blooms soft apricot in colour, flushed pink at the face and with a recurved lower petal. Although cold tolerant and can be grown outdoors in the UK in full sun in the manner of Dahlias and lifted in winter for frost-free storage, it will perform best and be admired most if grown in your conservatory. In any case, water and feed copiously. 12-15 ft."

 

Do you stand it in a saucer of water Bilbo?

Sounds like it would do well that way and might get even taller.

I've only just found out that Arundo donax does great if kept waterlogged.

 

I haven't done Pete, but they're getting watered heavily every day at the moment even if the compost looks damp and they are responding, there is noticeable growth almost daily, even with a couple of them floweing already :thumb:

 

Pete - you have reminded me that last year I grew my one and only Canna during the summer sitting in a saucer of water. I must do that again. In the book on Cannas, I read, the author did suggest saucers of water for presumably all Cannas. But he also said not to do it during the spring as they won't have enough roots established, and not to do it during the autumn as Cannas want to be slowly drying out ready for winter storage.

Bilbo - thanks for that helpful quote. I recently decided that I wanted to go into 'extreme gardening' mode and gross feed some of my plants, such as selected Cannas, banana, several Echiums and a Geranium maderense. So I am now feeding these every day.

Its very easy to do. I just water all my pots normally with a hose, then make up a watering can with 6 to 8 heaped scoops of feed. That way you only need to give a bit to the selected plants and it doesn't take long to do as you don't have to make up more than two or three watering cans.

I have no idea what gross feeding will do, but so far they seem to be loving it.

 

"I have no idea what gross feeding will do, but so far they seem to be loving it".

Hi Peter, must admit when it comes to feeding plants/flowers I've never(especially with tropical stuff) been one to stick to the regulation amounts on the labels. All my cannas, bananas (before I lost it), castor oils had a healthy amount of chicken manure pellets spread around the base when they started showing significant growth and are fed 3-4 times a week with liquid seaweed......like you say they're loving it.

 

Bilbo - Thats interesting to know. I was only recently introduced to the concept of heavy feeding when I became interested in Brugmansias. Its seems to be pretty standard to feed these every day. And one source (I forget what) said that you can get up to ten times as many flowers by doing that.

I can certainly believe it. I have one only mature Brugmansia (as opposed to small cuttings and ones from seed) and I have been feeding it heavily. I have been absolutely amazed at the result. It came into heavy flower two months ago, its still flowering heavily, and it has loads more flower buds developing.

I was a bit disappointed that my first Echium pininana flower stalk grew to only 6 feet this year. Though otherwise I was highly delighted by it. So I was thinking how to get it bigger next time, and I thought what about over-feeding it. It will be an interesting experiment.

 

Thought you might like to see how the Canna "Cleopatra" is doing.

Bear in mind this is one plant and not two different cultivars.

Its a good flowerer as well as interesting leaves.

 

Pete - that's brilliant, what lovely flowers. Its way ahead of mine. I have great foliage but don't even have any hint of flowers yet. It is an extra-ordinary plant. Do Cannas continue flowering till the cold weather, or do they have a limited flowering period?

I was Googling the words "overfeeding" last night and came across Hart's Canna site where it said that it was almost impossible to overfeed a Canna. Now that's my kind of plant - a good healthy appetite.

As threatened last night, I have now stood my largest Canna and Brugmansia in saucers of water.

 

They flower right on into autumn Peter, its only once the weather becomes stormy or frosty that you get the impression the season is over.

One of the flowers in my picture is showing a branch, ie another flower stem coming from the first one, not easy to see though.

I too like plants that show a good response to heavy feeding.

Maybe,I just like to feel in control:WINK1: