GARDENING : Cannas: Flavor of the Tropics
Anton Segerstrom was so fascinated with the cannas he saw during his travels to Southeast Asia, Hawaii and Central America that he decided to add them to his own garden in Corona del Mar.
“Their colors are so striking and vibrant, and they’re easy to grow,” he said.
As general manager for Crystal Court in Costa Mesa, he’s busy, but he manages to reserve some time for his garden. He has been an active, hands-on garden hobbyist for several years.
“I landscaped my house myself when I bought it seven years ago, and I like the tropical look,” he said. “That’s why cannas fit so well in my landscape.”
Segerstrom uses them to camouflage a fence in his front yard and to add visual interest to a fence in a rear courtyard where he has planted a standard canna in the background and a dwarf variety in front. He has also planted some to conceal a garage wall. He grows six different varieties.
Cannas are tuberous plants with flower clusters that can resemble ginger lilies. They are native to the tropics and subtropics, but they’re also grown in colder climates worldwide.
Standard varieties can reach a height of 10 or 12 feet in our benign climate. Dwarf varieties are more restrained, at a height of four to five feet, and can be grown in containers or tubs on patios or terraces.
This robust flowering plant used to be very popular but dropped out of fashion in California until fairly recently.
“Cannas are grown all over the world and used to be found in a large number of gardens in Southern California,” said Phil Miller of Roger’s Gardens in Corona del Mar. “In our climate, we have so many choices of what we can grow that lately we’ve overlooked them.”
Cannas thrive in rich soil and like abundant water. Varieties have even been hybridized to grow directly in water or bog gardens.
If you remember cannas with flowers only in hues of yellow or orange, you’ll be surprised at the many choices now available: white, ivory, red, orange, yellow, apricot, coral, salmon and pinks. A new dwarf variety, Tropical Rose, was named an All America Selection winner for this year.
Some people grow them for their foliage because they have large glossy green or bronze leaves. Some newer varieties have variegated leaves. Only the foliage can be used in flower arrangements because cannas don’t last as cut flowers.
They’re frost tender and love heat. When they receive abundant water and full sun, they will bloom almost continuously. After the intense heat of summer, they can be the only plants still blooming in a garden.
Cannas require little care. They’re relatively insect- and disease-free and need only occasional feedings.
One of the most respected experts on cannas in the landscape industry is Rosalind Sarver, founder and owner of Sarver Nursery in San Marcos.
She’s been growing cannas for more than 40 years and grows more than 40 varieties on five acres. (She also grows azaleas and other flowering plants.)
“Cannas have been getting more popular in the last few years because hybridizers have developed dwarf varieties,” she said.
She likes many of these new dwarf varieties, although she points out that they tend to have smaller flower clusters than their more vigorous relations.
“If you give cannas rich soil, full of organic amendments, and fertilize them regularly, they’ll produce larger flower clusters,” she said.
Some of the most popular varieties she sells are standards, which can grow to 12 feet:
* Los Angeles--pink. Also called American Beauty on the East Coast and Miss Oklahoma in the Midwest.
* Richard Wallace--yellow.
* Bronze Wyoming--orange with bronze leaves.
And dwarfs, which grow four to six feet tall:
* Pfitzer’s Chinese Coral.
* Pfitzer’s Dwarf Cherry Red.
* Pfitzer’s Dwarf Primrose Yellow.
* Dainty Pink Dwarf.
Sarver said the most popular canna worldwide is a bright red variety with yellow tones called President.
She plans to offer even more varieties in the near future.
“Hybridizers are developing new varieties for the canna connoisseur,” she said.
Although cannas are easy to grow, they require a little special care. After the individual flower cluster has stopped blooming, the stalk will usually die back to the ground and can then be removed.
Sarver advises cutting all stalks off at the ground each December. In cold climates, they naturally die back. They’ll regenerate in early spring.
Cannas spread in clusters, and after several years of growth and bloom, the center can become bare as they spread outward. At that point, the clump should be dug up and divided.
Remove the middle section and replant after amending the soil. The extra rhizomes can be shared with friends or planted in other locations. Most cannas are self-supporting, but some tall varieties may need staking.
Cannas are usually planted from containers of one, two or five gallons.
Standard varieties can be grown from rhizomes, and dwarf varieties from seed. Stallings Nursery in Encinitas features 5,000 species of hard-to-find plants.
The nursery offers five different types of evergreen and deciduous cannas, and four aquatic varieties. The nursery even carries one variety considered edible--Edulis--whose tubers are said to taste like potatoes.
Prices for cannas range from $2.95 to $20 or more for rare varieties.
