Marek Busiakiewicz
Canna ‘Madame Butterfly’
(Premier Group)
Origin Howard & Smith
Height Medium
Foliage Green
Form Branching
Flower Pink
Blooming Average bloomer
Tillering Slow
Canna ‘Madame Butterfly’ is a medium sized Premier Group cultivar; dark green foliage, oblong shaped, green margin, branching habit; flowers are cupped, ivory and pale pink, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer, blooms open in the early morning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is slow.
Palest of the Grand Opera Series with large, gladiolus-like flowers in ivory, overlaid with shell-pink. It has a curious, furled, rounded flower shape with some similarity to a camellia.
Canna ‘Madame Butterfly’ is a member of the Grand Opera Series, originally developed by Howard and Smith Nursery of Los Angeles, California in the 1930’s. Wayside Gardens later purchased the series and added their own ‘Rosenkavalier’. All cultivars in the series have large flowers in pastel shades, green foliage and are quite tall.
Images courtesy of Marek Busiakiewicz
Kelly's Plant World, California, USA. 1989
Flowers lovelely pastel tints of shell pink, undertones of yellow. Foliage green. Height 3-5 ft.
Cannas for the Florida Landscape, by B. Tjia and R. J. Black, 1990
Grand Opera Series, Madame Butterfly, flowers yellowish-pink.
Canna Handbook, Keith Hayward. Edition 1.06. © September 2000
Wayside Gardens. One of the “Grand Opera” series. Flowers are large and very pale pastel pink. Leaves green. Tall, over 1·5m.
Ian Cooke, The Gardeners Guide to Growing Cannas
(M) This is the palest of the series with large, gladiolus-like flowers in ivory, overlaid with shell-pink. (The innocent young ‘Butterfly’?). It has a curious furled, rounded flower shape with some similarity to a camellia.
Rivendell Botanic Garden, List January 2001
Soft yellow flowers spotted red; green leaves. Medium height.
KAVB International
Canna Checklist, September 2004
Wayside Gardens; flowers pale yellow, shaded pink, leaves green, height over 80 cm.
Claines
Canna Collection 2006
Summary: Palest of the
Grand Opera Series with large, gladiolus-like flowers in ivory, overlaid with shell-pink. It has a curious, furled, rounded flower shape with some similarity to a camellia.
Size: Medium height
Flower: Palest of the
Grand Opera Series with large, gladiolus-like flowers in ivory, overlaid with shell-pink. It has a curious, furled, rounded flower shape with some similarity to a camellia.
Foliage: Green leaves.
Origin: A member of the
Grand Opera Series, originally developed by Howard and Smith Nursery of Los Angeles, California in the 1930’s. Wayside Gardens later purchased the series and added their own ‘
Rosenkavalier’. All cultivars in the series have large flowers in pastel shades, green foliage and are quite tall.
