S2 VARIETY IN THE LITTLE GARDEN 



in an issue two years ago gave twelve columns to the subject 

 of the canna, attracted to this topic by the sight of twenty-two 

 thousand cannas in full bloom at Washington in August. I 

 quote: "Each bed noted was a solid mass of one color. . . . 

 There is no flower which so well fills the decorative situation for 

 large buildings as does the canna." 



Now how much easier and pleasanter to discourse upon the 

 right use of the canna; for every growing thing has its right use. 

 I recall Miss Marcia Hale's lovely placing and grouping of the 

 bronze-leaved type in a columnar effect, to flank trellis-openings 

 against a distant prospect, in the garden of Miss Porter's school 

 at Farmington; Miss Jekyll's nice planting of cannas with scarlet 

 geraniums in a decorative manner in the early days of Munstead 

 Wood; charming arrangements of the pale yellow and flame-pink 

 varieties in the gardens of our own amateurs, in combinations 

 of true felicity with other flowers. This is meant to be a diatribe 

 only against the improper, the unsuitable, use of the flower. 



The canna's subtropic look makes it difficult for use in the 

 temperate zone in all but the cleverest hands. And because it 

 is the tall scarlet canna which is so monstrously misplaced by 

 many gardening hands to-day, I would draw attention here to 

 the wonderful possibilities for garden use of the new Wintzer 

 hybrids in cannas. These beauties are as yet unknown to me, 

 but I shall not be long without them. Mr. J. H. McFarland, 

 writing lately of these newer cannas, is filled with enthusiasm 

 over them. "These Wintzer cannas," says the letter, "provide 

 an absolutely new power for color harmony and for color con- 

 trast in the garden. If you know the varieties, Cupid, Mrs. 

 Pierre du Pont, Edward Bok, Apricot, and a dozen other cannas 

 in soft tones of chamois-pink, fawn and the like, and if you have 

 seen how a clear orange sort with wavy petals and good green 

 foliage fits, you will be ready to consider also some exquisite 



