Revisiting Canna 'Auguste Ferrier'

A giant Foliage Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, large, oval shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are erect, self-coloured orange-red, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals red, fully self-cleaning, low bloomer; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules round.

We have grown this for several years alongside Canna 'Red Stripe', and we have no doubt that the latter, a recent introduction from TyTy Nurseries in the USA, is simply a synonym of this old cultivar.

It's earliest reference is the George Nicholson book, The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening, of 1888. Nicholson described it as "Flowers orange-red, medium-sized. Leaves very large, oval, erect, pointed, deep-green, with narrow stripes and margins of dark purplish-red. Stems green, very thick, downy. Height 10’.