ORIGIN Karl SPRENGER, 1897 HEIGHT Medium, 1-2 metres FOLIAGE Green FORM Branching FLOWER Multi-coloured FLOWERING Good bloomer AWARDS RHS Award of Merit, 1897
Canna Allemania is a medium sized aquatic Italian Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; round stems, coloured green + purple; panicles of flowers are open, salmon-red with a gold margin, throat gold, staminodes are large, edges irregular, labellum is salmon-red, petals purple, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer, blooms open in the early morning; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.
3. Alemannia, A.M. 1898 (Dammann and Veitch). Very large leaves; flowers large and handsome, with a broad Cattleya-like lip, orange scarlet and deep red, with an irregular golden-yellow margin.
2. Africa (Dobbie). — Italian Group Apricot to terra-cotta, irregularly shaded with deeper colour; truss rather small; foliage very rich, bronzy-crimson, striped with green; 5 feet.
RHS Journal of 1908-9
Featured in 1908 Outdoor Trials at Wisley Orange-red orchid flowered with dark foliage.
Africa. (Dam.) height of 150 cm. Stature sumptuously, leaves bronze colors with magenta. Flowers very largely, cattleya shape, glowing magenta-brown with orange-charming centre.
Cassells Dictionary of Practical Gardening, Walter P. Wright, 1910
Italian, or orchid, flowered scarlet, gold inside, purple and green foliage.
L. Clause Catalogue, Spring 1929
Feuillage bronzé. Fleur pourpre. Haut. 1 m. 50. Note: Bronze foliage. Crimson flower. Height. 1 m. 50.
Tropical Plants and Gardening, H.F. MacMillan, 1935
The Aquatic Group contains cultivars that thrive as marginal water plants. Characteristically, they will have lance-shaped foliage and long, thin rhizomes, which help provide anchorage in a moving environment. Having been derived from Cannaglauca or Cannaflaccida, they will have inherited their lance-shaped foliage and long, thin rhizomes.
A side-effect of the long, thin rhizomes is that they are not able to store large amounts of starch, and cannot tolerate the horticultural ‘trick’ of stopping rhizome growth over the winter months, so that rhizomes can be stored away from the destructive cold and frost. Instead, Aquatic Group cultivars must be kept growing over the cold winter months, although they will tolerate a low-level of watering during that period.
The first cultivars bred specifically for their aquatic abilities were introduced by Dr Richard Armstrong, firstly in his role as geneticist at Longwood Gardens and later in a private capacity when he retired to Hawaii.
The Longwood aquatic cannas were bred for large ponds and lakes, but look out of scale with normal garden small ponds, and so the River Series of aquatic cannas was bred specifically to fill that gap, all being under 1 metre in height.
ORIGIN Alice HARRIS HEIGHT Medium, 1-2 metres FOLIAGE Dark green FLOWER Yellow
Canna ‘Butterfly Kisses’ is a medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; dark green foliage, lanceolate shaped, white margin; panicles of flowers are reflexed, self-coloured yellow, throat pale-purple, staminodes are small, blooms open in the early morning; fertility unknown.
Special canna with delicate ethereal 1 3/4″ wide open recurved trumpet flowers. Rich pale cantelope to pale mauve colours at the centers. Blooms held high above deep green leaves with white margins. Hummingbird attractive flowers. Can be grown in ground or aquatically. Medium height.
Canna ‘Freckle Face’ is a medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; clusters of flowers are open, peach with cerise spots, staminodes are narrow, edges regular, petals green, fully self-cleaning, early bloomer, blooms open in the early morning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.
Beautiful orange flowers with red flecks adorn this four foot, self cleaning canna. Great for containers, in beds or as a border. Full sun, to part shade. Does best in well draining, loose soil mix.
Canna 'Allemania'
