About
This upright perennial reaches heights of up to 1.6 meters, creating dense clumps with large leaves featuring bold stripes of green, yellow, pink, and bronze. From summer through autumn, it produces spikes of bright red flowers that rise prominently on sturdy stems above the foliage. Ideal for adding interest to a tropical border.
About the genus
Canna are herbaceous perennials characterized by their rhizomatous growth and upright stems. They feature broad, oval leaves and prominent flowers that include petal-like staminodes along with smaller, colored petals and sepals. These blooms appear in clusters, such as racemes or panicles, during the summer and autumn months.
Growing conditions
- Sunlight
- Full sun
- Soil type
- Loam, Sand
- Soil pH
- Acid, Alkaline, Neutral
- Soil moisture
- Moist but well-drained
- Aspect
- South-facing, West-facing
- Exposure
- Sheltered
- UK hardiness
- H3
Plant details
- Plant type
- Herbaceous Perennial, Conservatory Greenhouse
- Habit
- Clump forming
- Foliage
- Deciduous
- Height
- 1.5-2.5 metres
- Spread
- 0.1-0.5 metres
- Time to full height
- 2-5 years
- Suggested uses
- Architectural, City and courtyard gardens, Cottage and informal garden, Patio and container plants, Sub-tropical
Care notes
- Cultivation
- Grow in a border or container in a sheltered site with full sun. Water freely in dry spells and apply a balanced liquid feed monthly. In cold regions, lift the rhizomes in autumn once frost has blackened the foliage and store in barely moist compost in frost-free conditions. In areas that are frost-free or almost so, leave in situ and protect with a deep dry mulch. See canna cultivation for further information
- Pruning
- No pruning required, deadhead flowers to prolong flowering
- Propagation
- Propagate by division of rhizomes in spring
- Pest resistance
- May be susceptible to slugs and snails, aphids and glasshouse red spider mite
- Disease resistance
- May be susceptible to canna viruses