CANNA 



THE BTTI.B liOOK 



have played a part, and as the 

 original types are no longer used, 

 their progeny has become thoroughly 

 mixed and blended in garden forms. 

 The result has been a new race with 

 flowers of every shade of colour, 

 among them being red, scarlet, 

 yellow, orange, bronze, and inter- 

 mediate shades, many of them 

 distinctly washed and lilotched with 

 other colours." 



Fio. 92.— Canna, hybrid. Q.) 



The Cannas — that is, the natural 

 species — are chiefly natives of 

 Tropical and subtropical America 

 as well as the East Indies. Notwith- 

 standing this fact, there are probably 

 no other plants from the same regions 

 that can be grown so easily in our 

 climate as the numerous forms that 

 have been raised by the gardener 

 during the past sixty years. 



Cannas are highly ornamental, 

 whether grown as pot plants in the 

 greenhouse or conservatory, or for 

 massing in beds and borders in the 

 open air during the summer months. 



Indeed, they are as easily grown as 

 ]3ahlias ; and they possess the great 

 advantage of having fine leaves, not 

 only graceful and decorative in them- 

 selves, but also in having curiously 

 shaped blossoms that are brilliantly 

 coloured and marked, and somewhat 

 puzzling in structure to the amateur 

 botanist. 



Although so free and vigorous in 

 growth, Cannas will not stand the 

 frost. Consequently they can only 

 be grown in the open air in the 

 British Islands from the early 

 summer till about the end of autumn, 

 during just that period of the year 

 when we may hope to be fairly free 

 from frost. 



There are many ways in which 

 Cannas can be made eff'ective in the 

 open garden. It must be remembered 

 first of all that there are tall, dwarf, 

 and medium growing kinds. These 

 groups may be again divided into 

 two classes according to the colour of 

 the foliage — some varieties having 

 soft green leaves, others having 

 beautiful bronzy and purple shades. 

 The point to bear in mind, therefore, 

 when planting Cannas for efi"ect is to 

 make a judicious selection of varieties 

 that will harmonise with each other 

 cither in height, colour of the foliage, 

 or blossoms. Certainly tall-growing 

 and dwarf -growing varieties should 

 not l)e mixed up indiscriminately in 

 what are known as " formal " beds. 

 Whether the shape of these be 

 circular, rectangular, elliptic, or 

 square, it is generally advisable to 

 keep the taller-growing varieties in 

 the centre, and the dwarfer ones 

 nearer the margins. The distance 

 apart is largely a matter of taste, 

 the main thing to bear in mind being 

 not to overcrowd the plants too much 

 on the one hand, or to plant them so 

 far apart that great unfurnished gaps 

 appear between them. The taller and 



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