I do not know of any class of plants that have attracted so much
attention or have been so much admired during the past season as the new
large flowering French cannas. And for effectiveness on lawns in large
beds or masses, or as single specimens in the mixed border, nothing can
be more tropical and impressive. They are really plants for everybody as
they are entirely free from insect pests, and require but little care
and attention to grow them to perfection. They succeed well in all kinds
of weather, wet or dry, and are not injured in the least by the severe
storms of wind and rain that we so often experience during the summer
season.
They bloom without intermission from June until they are destroyed by
frost; the spikes of large flowers somewhat resemble gladiolus but are
really more effective and showy as their brilliant colors show so grandly
against their tropical foliage. Most, if not all, of the varieties grow
on an average about three feet in height, and the flowers range in color
from deep crimson to pure yellow, including all the intermediate shades,
many being so beautifully marked that they are frequently compared to
orchid flowers.
To grow these cannas to perfection as well as to enable them to properly
develop themselves, they should be given a very deep heavily enriched
soil, and as soon as hot, dry weather sets in mulched to the depth of
at least two inches with good stable manure, and if the opportunity
offers, water copiously during seasons of drought. With this treatment a
single tuber will make a clump three or four feet in diameter in a single
season; this will give one some idea of the immense amount of foliage and
flowers a single specimen will produce.
The plants should not be planted outside until the weather becomes warm
and settled, which in this vicinity is about the tenth of May, and as
soon as the foliage has been destroyed by the frost it should be cut off,
and the tubers dug and stored underneath the greenhouse stage, or in some
other situation, where a temperature of 55° is maintained, until the time
arrives for planting them outside again.
Or the plants can be lifted on the approach of cold weather, divided,
potted up, and grown on for decorative purposes in either the greenhouse
or window garden. This is a very safe way to winter over the large
flowering cannas or any other variety of which one’s stock is limited.
When grown as pot plants for winter decoration the cannas should be given
a compost consisting of two-thirds turfy loam, one-third well decayed
manure and a good sprinkling of bone dust, mix well and use the compost
rough. The plants should be given as light and sunny a situation as
possible and a temperature of 55° to 60°. They should also be freely
watered both overhead and at the roots, and as soon as the pots become
well filled with roots a little liquid ammonia can be given occasionally
or else they must be shifted into larger pots.
Propagation is effected by a careful division of the clumps, and where
the plants are to be kept in a state of rest the operation should be
performed when they are being planted out in May. In dividing leave two
or three eyes or shoots to each plant.
Of the many varieties now listed in catalogues the following are the most
desirable and distinct:
Alphonse Bouvier is the grandest deep red variety known, both truss and
flowers being very large, and the plant makes a most luxuriant growth of
deep red foliage. In color the flowers are of a rich velvety red.
Capt. P. de Suzzini has handsome light green foliage and is the most
beautiful of all the spotted varieties. Its flowers are of a rich shade
of canary yellow beautifully spotted and dashed with red.
Francois Crozy has bright green foliage and very large flowers which are
of a bright orange bordered with a narrow edge of gold—a very rare and
desirable color in cannas.
Madame Crozy grows about three and a half feet in height and has broad
bright green foliage. The flowers, which are produced in massive spikes,
are of a bright crimson scarlet beautifully bordered with gold. The plant
commences to bloom when about one foot in height.
Nellie Bowden, in all respects this is identical with Madame Crozy except
in the color of its flowers which are of a rich golden yellow. One of the
most distinct and beautiful of cannas.
Paul Marquant has dark green foliage and very large handsome flowers of a
bright salmon scarlet. A very showy variety.
Star of 1891 is so well and favorably known as to require no description.
It is the best of all for pot culture, as it is of dwarf growth and very
free-flowering. The flowers are of a bright orange scarlet occasionally
edged with yellow.
_Floral Park, N. Y._