Can I, can I get a Tropicanna canna?
I’ve been immune to the charms of canna for many years, finding them too tropical in looks and too water-loving for my gardening taste and habits. So I was caught off guard by my longing for a bright orange ‘Tropicanna’ canna after I spotted one paired with red-flowering firecracker fern in a friend’s garden. I came home, promptly ripped out the overgrown softleaf yuccas that had been hulking by the bottle tree like a trio of mob heavies and replaced them with a lively, tropicalesque combination of the canna, firecracker ferns (Russelia equisetiformis), ‘Pride of Barbados’ (Caesalpinia pulcherrima), and a seedling datura and ‘Black Pearl’ pepper passed along by blogger friends. The ‘Color Guard’ yucca in the blue pot was already there.
I’ll have more pictures as the plants begin to fill in. But the canna is already wowing me with a floppy, orange blossom—like an outrageous hat worn to a royal wedding—and its colorfully striped leaves.
All material © 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
Very pretty! I started off collecting cannas for the foliage and then fell for those gorgeous flowers too. The colorful foliage and bright flowers are fun for the garden and they can stay in the ground through the winter.
I am so surprised by my canna excitement, Shirley. I just hope the leaf rollers can be kept at bay. —Pam
I don’t find that my cannas have to have all that much water…I have reds, pinks, yellows and the dark leafed ones….cut that bloom when it fades and it will pop out more buds.
I hope mine won’t be too thirsty, Darla. But it’s close to the hose for any extra drink it may require. —Pam
I LOVE those striped leaves. Nice addition to your garden Pam. Can’t wait to see them once they’ve filled in a bit.
Me too, Chris! —Pam
Pam,
I had over 40 different types of Cannas at one point and I absolutely loved them . So MANY beautiful colors. I would still have them, but they got infested with leaf rollers and no matter what I didn’t I couldn’t get rid of them… Such a shame. I had to dig them all up. Tropicana was one of my favorites.
Oh no, Randy. I hear about the leaf rollers and hope to keep them down to manageable numbers. Maybe with just one canna that will be possible. —Pam
I love cannas! Can’t wait to see what the tropical garden looks like once its filled in more. I have a tropicana canna myself, maybe I’ll borrow some of your companion plant ideas!
The rest of the plants in that bed are drought-tolerant, Jen, but they do have a bold, tropical look, like Pride of Barbados, firecracker fern, ‘Color Guard’ yucca, and Mexican bush sage. —Pam
Pam, do you have it out in full sun? I find that mine sunburns in full sun, and we get 90’s and 100’s here. Yours is drop dead gorgeous, by the way….
I don’t have any full sun in my live oak-shaded garden, Karen. It gets a few hours of morning sun and then a good blast of late afternoon sun. —Pam
I grow several Cannas. Tropicanna’s flowers are outrageously bright in my garden, but wow the foliage is divine. I also grow a black leafed one, America, with red flowers. They would look fab together. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the ‘red flowering fern’, sounds interesting!
Kerry, there’s a picture of firecracker fern on a post about Sheryl’s garden. It looks a bit like a penstemon. —Pam
This is so very exciting – giving into your tropical gardening urges! Not that this is tropical, but I was admiring the most beautiful brahea armata palms the other day and thought of you! They should be able to take your zone 8b dry garden and are a really stunning palm. Do you guys grow those in Austin?
Louis, I just looked it up online and found what looks like a good reference to growing palms in Austin, written by fellow blogger Bob Beyer. I don’t know enough about palms yet to ID them when I see them around town, but Brahea armata looks like it would be a good one for Austin gardens. It’s lovely! —Pam
Never say never. The foliage is so wonderful, even if it never flowered.
Yes, that’s true. But the orange flower is the icing on the cake! —Pam
Just wow. I want one too! Laura
Laura, you’re in Austin, right? I found this one at Red Barn Garden Center in northwest Austin. —Pam
They had these on sale at Home Depot last weekend, so I gave in and bought one. Great minds must think alike, because I have mine in a huge pot with a Black Pearl ornamental pepper as well (and some variegated shell ginger, a pink flowering hibiscus, and a chartreuse potato vine)!
What a tropical explosion of a pot that must be! It sounds glorious, Lori. I’m going to need to see a picture on your blog or Facebook page! —Pam
Isn’t it fun how our tastes change? For the longest time I hated Mexican feather grass, now I love it. Then there are the things I’ve loved that now I can’t stand (Coleus comes to mind). Thanks for sharing your new obsession, I’ve never met a Canna I didn’t love…
It’s probably all the blog reading we do. We see a plant extolled lovingly on someone else’s blog often enough, and then, bam! we’ve got to have one too. —Pam
I have plenty to share! Let me know if you want some next week.
I think just the one I already got will do, but thanks for the offer! 🙂 —Pam
Spectacular…you made a great choice.
You know I like those bright colors, Gail. —Pam
We grow ours by the AC- it does great with the water drip and when they are tall- they hide the ugly AC unit and shade it so it works better. They also seem to attract humming birds.
That’s a great place to grow canna, Josie. I wish my A/C unit wasn’t in the deep shade of a live oak! —Pam