Canna or canna lily is the only genus of flowering plants in the family Cannaceae, consisting of 10 species. All of the genus's species are native to the American tropics and naturalized in Europe, India and Africa in the 1860s. Although they grow native to the tropics, most cultivars have been developed in temperate climates and are easy to grow in most countries of the world, as long as they receive at least 6–8 hours average sunlight during the summer, and are moved to a warm location for the winter. See the Canna cultivar gallery for photographs of Canna cultivars.
Pierre Louis Victor Lemoine was a celebrated and prolific French flower breeder who, among other accomplishments, created many of today's lilac varieties. As a result of his accomplishments, the term French lilac has come to mean all cultivars of the common lilac that have double flowers, regardless of their origin.
Canna Italian Group 'Roma' is a tall aquatic Italian Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; large green foliage, oval shaped, white margin, upright habit; round stems, coloured green & purple; flowers are open, yellow with orange blotches, throat red-orange, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, stamen is orange-red, petals red, fully self-cleaning; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is prolific. Introduced by C. Sprenger, Dammann & Co., Naples, Italy, EU in 1898.
Canna 'Phasion' is a medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green, bronze and pink variegated foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured red; clusters of flowers are open, tangerine-orange and burnt-red, staminodes are large, edges frilled, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning; seed is sterile, pollen is sterile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and purple; tillering is average. Originally a spontaneous mutation, probably of Canna 'Wyoming', as it has been known to revert its foliage colour to that identical to that old cultivar. Sold in the US and elsewhere as Canna Tropicanna®, it was protected under US Plant Patent #10,569. Because the patent was issue on 1998-08-25, it has now expired and propagation is now allowed. The plant can be sold under its cultivar name Phasion.
Canna 'Florence Vaughan' is a medium Crozy Group canna cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are open, yellow with red spots, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average. Introduced by A. Crozy, Lyon, France in 1892.
Canna 'Madame Crozy' is a medium-sized 'Crozy Group' canna cultivar; green foliage, large, ovoid shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured red; spikes of flowers are open, scarlet with a narrow gold margin, throat gold with vermilion spots, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, petals red, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific. It was introduced by A. Crozy, Lyon, France in 1890 and was named in honour of his wife. It was awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM), in 1890.
Canna 'Bengal Tiger' is an Italian Group canna cultivar with variegated foliage; plant height 190 cm; foliage height 140 cm; upright stems and gently spreading leaves; ovoid foliage, background of green (137A); veins variegated yellow, but paler in places (13D); maroon edge to leaf; staminodes, labellum and stamen bright orange (28B) blushed a darker, reddish (32A) in places; yellow (15A) on edges; stigma deep orange-red; petals strongly flushed red. The flower has a crumpled silk appearance; seed and pollen has very low fertility levels; rhizomes thick, up to 3 cm in diameter.
Canna 'Yellow King Humbert' Burbank is a medium sized Italian Group Canna cultivar; foliage green, but often variegated purple markings and occasionally whole leaves purple, oval shaped, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured green + purple; flower clusters are open, spotted, colours yellow with red spots, often large red markings and occasionally whole flowers red, staminodes are large; seed is sterile, pollen is sterile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.
Canna 'Roi Humbert' is an Italian Group canna cultivar; bronze foliage, ovoid shaped, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured purple; flowers are cupped, self-coloured scarlet, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, fully self-cleaning; seed is sterile, pollen is sterile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is average. Introduced by C. Sprenger, Dammann & Co, Naples, Italy, EU in 1908.
Canna 'R. Wallace' is a medium sized, Crozy Group canna cultivar; green foliage, oblong shaped, white margin, spreading habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, pale yellow with red spots, staminodes are large, edges regular, stamen is rose-red with small yellow flecks; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink.
Sydney Percy-Lancaster was an English landscape gardener who worked in India. Both his father as well as his son worked as gardeners.
Wilhelm Pfitzer was a German horticulturist.
Carl Ludwig Sprenger was a German botanist, born on 30 November 1846 at Güstrow, Mecklenburg and died 13 December 1917 on the island of Corfu (Kérkyra).
Star Roses and Plants/Conard-Pyle, is a horticultural products company, based in West Grove, Pennsylvania since 1855. The company introduced the Peace rose to America from Europe, and always specialized in rose production, but at one time, they were the leading Canna grower and hybridizer in the United States. Star Roses and Plants/Conard-Pyle is best known for introducing the Knock Out Family of Roses and Drift Roses.
Pierre Antoine Marie Crozy (1831-1903) [also called Crozy aîné—French for "elder"] was a nineteenth-century French rose breeder. He was a partner in the French firm, Avoux & Crozy, La Guillotière, Lyon, actively breeding roses from the 1850s to 1860s. From the early 1860s until his death in 1903 he was also hybridising Canna species, and introduced many hundreds of new cultivars. The largest Canna Group today is still called the Crozy Group, and many of those cultivars are still being raised.
Théodore Année was a French horticulturist. He was a wealthy diplomatic consul in South America when he retired to France in the mid-1840s and settled in rue des Réservoirs, Passy, Paris, where he devoted himself to the culture of tropical plants from South America, having brought back with him the taste for plants with beautiful foliage, especially the Canna genus.
Pelargonium × hortorum, commonly called zonal geranium, or garden geranium, is a nothospecies of Pelargonium most commonly used as an ornamental plant. It is a hybrid between Pelargonium zonale and Pelargonium inquinans. They are the group of Pelargonium cultivars, with leaves marked with a brown annular zone and inflorescence in the form of large balls of tight flowers, usually red, pink, or white. These are the most common geraniums of garden centers and florists, sold in pots for windowsills and balconies or planted in flowerbeds.
Rosa 'Madame Caroline Testout' is a bright pink hybrid tea rose, bred by French rosarian, Joseph Pernet-Ducher. The pink, fragrant rose has been a very popular rose worldwide since its introduction in 1890. It is recognized by the city of Portland as being an important contributor to its worldwide reputation as the "City of Roses"
