THE FLORISTS MANUAL 



47 



peep is the time to sow canna seed. 

 When spring once comes our vegetation 

 awakens and grows apace. Trees leaf 

 out, it seems, in a night, our woods and 

 fields are clothed with leaf and blossom, 

 and music is everywhere and free to all 

 from the tireless throat of the frog and 

 the sweet call of the meadow lark 

 which is not a lark at all, but a starling 

 and it seems to me that the quick and 

 stately growth of the canna is in keep 

 ing with all this and is our ideal deco 

 rative plant. 



root and grow immediately. Large 

 growers of cannas have cut up the 

 old clump of roots, covered a vacant 

 bench in a warm house with two inches 

 of sphagnum moss or cocoanut fiber and 

 then placed the roots on this material, 

 with a sprinkling of the same over the 

 roots. All that are sound will soon 

 make a start and then can be lifted up 

 and potted. 



By middle of April you have pre 

 sumably got rid of your lilies, etc., and 

 can find room to pot off the cannas into 



A Bed of Canna Niagara. 



inches of the ground and the clump of 

 roots lifted and removed to beneath a 

 dry bench. On the ground beneath a 

 carnation bench is an excellent place, or 

 anywhere the temperature is between 40 

 and 50 degrees, but it must not be wet 

 or they will start to grow. Neither must 

 there be a drip the latter is, I know 

 from experience, very bad for them, as 

 the roots will rot. It is better when 

 placing them under the bench to put 

 boards under them, for the moisture of 

 the soil, however dry it may appear, 

 will start them growing. A root house 

 for the purpose, where dahlias would 

 keep, would be the best place, but few 

 of us have that, and beneath the benches 

 is amply good, providing you guard 

 against drip on them. 



We always treat the canna as a her 

 baceous plant, and it is called so by high 

 authorities, but in their tropical home 

 they are by no means herbaceous, 

 spreading and growing and flowering 

 the year round. You can lift, divide 

 and propagate new and rare varieties 

 the year round, and you can lift large 

 clumps before frost has touched them 

 and use them in decorations. 



It is difficult to pick out even a dozen 

 varieties, for new sorts are constantly 

 appearing, and what is considered the 

 finest this year may be eclipsed by seed 

 lings of next year. Cannas that do not 

 flower abundantly and hold their 

 flowers well will not do for bedding, and 

 those minus these qualities will soon 



Cannas come largely true from seed, 

 and good plants can be raised by sow 

 ing in February for the following sum 

 mer s use. The seed is so hard that 

 it is well not only to soak it in a bag 

 suspended in hot water, which you can 

 renew occasionally, but is all the bet 

 ter if you take each seed, held firmly 

 by a pair of pincers, and slice off a 

 small piece of the hard covering of the 

 seed. Sow in pans in three inches of 

 soil, covering the seed half an inch or 

 more. We place the pans over the hot 

 water pipes, which quickens the growth 

 of the seed. If you have a propagating 

 bed with a good brisk heat in the sand 

 you can sow in drills an inch deep. If you 

 have any seed from your own plants sow 

 as soon as gathered. Canna seed soon loses 

 its vitality. When the plant is three 

 inches high we remove it and start it 

 growing in a pot; but don t throw away 

 the contents of the pan, for there are 

 always more to come and they will likely 

 keep straggling along for months. Grow 

 the seedlings along in a light, warm 

 house and by June 1, which is plant 

 ing time, they should be in 4-inch pots. 

 The readiest way and that by which 

 all fine varieties are propagated is by 

 cutting up or division of the root. The 

 old stools that have been stored all win 

 ter are divided in March. If the piece 

 of root is three or four inches long, with 

 one good eye or bud, it is large enough 

 to make a fine plant. We place the 

 pieces of root in three or four inches 

 of sand and old hotbed manure in flats 

 about the middle or end of March and 

 place the flats over the pipes where the 

 heat is not too violent. They start to 



Canna Duke of Marlborough, Edged Buttercup. 



4 and 5-inch pots. They should have a 

 light bench in a light house and no 

 shade, but abundance of water, and by 

 the first of June they will be fine plants, 

 many of them sending up their first 

 spike of flowers. 



Any soil that is one-third half rot 

 ten manure will do for the cannas. You 

 cannot give them too deep or too rich 

 a soil and they require a great abun 

 dance of water. They are usually plant 

 ed fifteen to eighteen inches apart. 



When the foliage is destroyed by frost 

 the tops are cut down to within six 



be lost sight of. Italia and Austria, 

 FO beautiful as individual flowers, are 

 useless planted out, as is most likely 

 all that type. Some of the best bedders, 

 if not new, are: 



Madame Crozy: Vermilion scarlet, 

 bordered with golden yellow. 



Florence VaugEan: Fine yellow, mot 

 tled with crimson. 



Souvenir de Antoine Crozy: A grand 

 variety; an improvement on Mme. 

 Crozy. 



Tarrytown: Rich, bright red; great 

 bloomer. 



