Canna lilies love our Texas summers. They bloom all summer when little else like the heat, are drought hardy, and they multiply fast. They make a great landscape plant with their exotic blooms, and large tropical leaves. Here in Texas the plants do not have to be lifted and stored for the winter. A good thing that is because they grow so fast here. Soon I hope there will be named varieties for sale that are rarely seen.
Come and see my canna patch and how fast they grew. Here is one thing that you can put on your drainage septic fields and cover some ugly spots. Make use of that excess water! Likewise, as I mentioned above, they are also quite drought hardy.
Canna are not always ratty looking tall plants that are mostly leaves! There are many newer hybrids that are 36-46" tall, and will fit just right under your picture window showing the flowers without hiding the view. They come in all shades and spots of orange, peach, red, pink, and white. The species plants have smaller flowers, but their numbers make up for their size and attract wildlife that is fun to watch like hummingbirds, bats, butterflies, and large moths. There are many canna that have striped, or dark chocolate leaves, and make a lush tropical looking accent plant.
This fall I have several unnamed cannas for sale. They are beautiful. See the pictures and descriptions below.
There is a new canna virus that has spread throughout the world called the Yellow Mottled Virus. It shows up on the leaves as yellow specks and streaks. The plants will bloom at first, but over time they will not thrive and the leaves will shrivel and die. It is thought to be spread by aphids. It is mostly spread now by propagation in nurseries from infected mother plants. Because the plants still bloom, the virus became spread before anyone took notice. This virus has destroyed many historic canna collections throughout the world. Now nearly all common sources of canna rhizomes such as from major retail markets like Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart sell infected plants. Nurseries dedicated to canna culture have resorted to growing virus free plants by cell propagation in petre dishes! My solution is to get plants from older stands of canna that are still virus free. You can tell by looking at the leaves. Just don't forget that some varieties have streaks naturally. You can tell the difference because of the speckles.
My collection of cannas came from those that were planted around my house years ago before the virus, and I added to the collection by my friends giving me rhizomes of old species varieties that they did not get from nurseries, just from each others' yards. Therefore, I am very lucky to have canna lily's that show no symptoms of the Yellow Mottled Virus!
They are $1/large rhizome. You will carry them home bareroot in shopping bags. It is best to go ahead and plant them if you can so the roots can get established before the heat of the summer comes.
Canna are simple to plant. I just lay mine on the ground that has been loosened with a digging fork, and put enough dirt on them to cover them above the rhizomes at least an inch. Cover the bed with a light mulch and water, and there you have it. Carefully spray Round Up on the grass around the bed to keep it down, and the canna will spread in such a lovely way. Soon, you'll have a big patch too, that shows up from quite a distance.
Check these beauties out: