24 



The Florists^ Review 



March 2. 1922 



grown. Of course, this manure was not 

 used until the i)hints were well establish- 

 ed and it so happened that there was no 

 rainfall for about ten days after it was 

 jiut on. It is ()ui1e possibh' that, should 

 a rain have eoine immediately, damage 

 might have been done. This experi- 

 ment was repeated twice with similar 

 results, so 1 am confident that ground 

 cannot be made too rich for cannas. 

 These cannas made enormous growth of 

 root and multiplied amazingly, but the 

 roots were too soft to be (lesirable for 

 commercial use. 



Watering. 



Cannas thrive best where they can 

 secure a large supply of water. In fact, 

 they will grow in the edges of swamps 

 and rejoice in the opportunity. I placed 

 a few plants, one of a kind of some of 

 the high-priced novelties, where we 

 could irrigate them thoroughly with an 

 overhead sprinkling system and watered 

 them every day and on hot days sprink- 

 led the foliage thoroughly about noon 

 besides. We got an average of fifty 

 good eyes for each plant set, to pay us 

 for our trouble. These results are given, 

 not because they are of great practical 

 value to the commercial grower, but as 

 suggestions of the proper treatment of 

 cannas in bedding and landscape plant- 

 ing. 



At all events, cannas should haye an 

 abundance of water when they are used 

 for ornamental planting. Unless this 

 can be given, they are never quite satis- 

 factory to the grower. If they are well 

 mulched, however, it is often possible to 

 get fairly good results without watering 

 if the natural rainfall is abundant. 



Wliite Varieties. 



There has been much progress made 

 in the development of the canna in the 

 last five or ten years. Many of the 

 varieties that were considered of first 

 quality even five years ago ought to be 

 discarded now. Tlie list of best cannas 

 even today is not long and, unfortu- 

 nately, a great ni;uiy growers still persist 

 in propagating and selling varieties that 

 should have been tlirown away long ago. 

 It seems best to discuss the question of 

 varieties under color sections and so I 

 shall follow this plan. 



For a long time the wlilte canna was 

 believed to be an iinjiossibility, altho\igli 

 there is at h'ast one wild canna that 



ai)proaches this color. Years of persist- 

 ent breeding gave us the variety Alsace, 

 which was considered a triumph of plant 

 l)reeding in its day. Of course it is 

 worthless jiow. Several other cream-col- 

 ored varieties apyjoared and were given 

 more or less publicity and one really 

 white variety, Blanche Wintzer, was in- 

 troduced a number of years ago. This 

 variety was about perfect in color, but 

 was not a good propagator, a strong 

 grower or a free bloomer. It was al- 

 ways a disappointment to us and, I be- 

 lieve, to most other people who tried it. 

 The first really valuable white cannas 

 were Eureka and Flag of Truce; the 

 former was introduced by Henry A. 

 Dreer, Inc., and the latter by the Con- 

 ard & Jones Co. These two cannas are 

 both vigorous growers, free bloomers 

 and produce large heads of giant flowers. 

 Neither is quite white and Flag of Truce 

 is faintly speckled with crimson pink, 

 but these specks are so faint that they 

 cannot be seen at a distance of ten feet. 

 In our trials we were never able to de- 

 cide which of these two varieties was 

 the better. Both were about as good 

 as any canna of any other color and 

 neither was quite white. We are thank- 

 ful, however, that it was not necessary 

 to settle this question, for Mr. Wintzer 

 settled it for us by producing Snow 

 Queen. 



Perfection In Wliite. 



Snow Queen is about perfection in 

 white cannas. With us it is as vigor- 

 ous a grower and as free a bloomer as 

 Florence Vaughan or any of the old- 

 time varieties. The individual flowers 

 are fully equal to those of The Presi- 

 dent, which means that they are as large 

 as any canna ought to be, while the 

 trusses are large indeed. We find this 

 canna multiplies about as well as any 

 variety and is as sturdy and healthy as 

 a canna needs to be. The color is about 

 as white as a calla lily, though it is 

 slightly creamy on first opening. Its 

 one weakness with us is that the roots 

 are rather hard to keep over winter. 

 Ill this respect it is not nearly so hail 

 as many other varieties, however. 



In Mr. Wintzer 's breeding, a number 

 of first-class white varieties have ap- 

 ])eared since the introduction of Snow 

 Queen and we have produced at least 

 three high-class whites, but none of them 

 appears to us to be worthy of introduc 

 tinii, simply because they are not better 



Field of Canna Mrs. Alfred Conard> a Variety of Unusual Color. 



than Snow Queen. The Conard & Jones 

 Co. introduced one of Mr. Wintzer 's 

 cannas last year under the name of 

 Evening Star. This ought to be con- 

 sidered under the heading of white can- 

 nas, for, while it is described as a pink, 

 with us it appears white at a distance 

 of fifteen or twenty feet. At close range 

 it is delightfully shaded and marked 

 with exquisite peach pink. The plant, 

 after one year's trial, seems to be vig- 

 orous and a free bloomer and we consider 

 it one of the most beautiful varieties 

 in our collection. However, I do not be- 

 lieve it will ever become a popular com- 

 mercial variety, because it is not a 

 showy color. 



The idea of a good, free-blooming, 

 healthy white canna has always ap- 

 pealed to me strongly, for it is really 

 needed for planting with our bright 

 reds. Either a large bed should have a 

 center of white bordered with brilliant 

 red, or vice-versa. I am sure that as 

 soon as Snow Queen and some of the 

 unintroduced whites become plentiful 

 enough, the trade will find them popular. 



Pinks. 



The story of Mr. Wintzer 's and Dr. 

 Walter Van Fleet's efforts to get a 

 pink canna reads almost like a romance, 

 but it is too long to tell here. Suf- 

 ficient to say that, after repeated fail- 

 ures, the pink color finally came, al- 

 though the canna was inferior in size 

 and other important qualities. From the 

 time the first pink appeared, however, 

 progress was rapid and today we have 

 a number of strictly high-grade pink 

 cannas. Most of them are of Mr. Wint- 

 zer 's own strain. However, good work 

 has been done by foreign breeders in 

 producing pink cannas and at least one 

 of our most popular pink cannas today 

 is of foreign origin. This is Prince 

 Beauty of Hungaria or, as it is com- 

 monly called, Hungaria. This canna is 

 of fairly dwarf growth, is a reasonably 

 strong grower and is a free producer of 

 flowers of good size. Ten years ago, 

 when it was a real novelty, it was con- 

 sidered a giant-flowered sort. The color 

 is perhaps the most appealing of any of 

 the pinks in commerce, but its being 

 mottled with cream spoils the effect to 

 some extent. Nevertheless, it is as good 

 as any pink canna we have today, or at 

 least this is the verdict of the public 

 wherever I have been. 



Mrs. Alfred Conard was put on the 

 market years ago and so is pretty gen- 

 erally known to the trade. It is a vigor- 

 ous grower and a free bloomer, wi{h in- 

 dividual flowers as large as any of our 

 good pink cannas, being slightly larger 

 than Hungaria. The color is best de- 

 scribed as a watermelon pink and many 

 jicople still consider it the best pink 

 canna. „ _. 



Bosea Gigantea. 



Kosea gigantea is of about the same 

 habit of growth as the two just de- 

 scribed and, if anything, is a freer 

 bloomer and under favorable conditions 

 the individual flowers are slightly larger. 

 The color is a brilliant rose pink or, 

 more properly, a carmine pink. Per- 

 sonally, I like it better than any other 

 of the standard pinks. City of Port- 

 land is perhaps a stronger grower and 

 possibly a better bloomer. Under our 

 hot southern sun, its color is similar to 

 rosea gigantea. We find a great deal 

 of difference of opinion amon-; our cus- 

 tomers as to which is the more desirable 

 of the two varieties. As ^rown in cooler 

 climates, there is a decided difference in 



