Revisiting Canna 'Annei'

A tall aquatic Foliage Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; glaucous green foliage, oval-acuminate shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are erect, self-coloured salmon, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, petals red, late bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is fertile; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Théodore Année in 1848. A hand-cross of C. indica and C. glauca.

It is a very tall foliage plant, growing up to 300cm (9'9"), and topped by interesting small flowers that start in August and continue through to the first frosts. There are few plants with more architectural significance than a well-grown specimen of C. 'Annei' in a prominent position.

The earliest known book on Canna is "Le Canna" by M. Chaté and Sons, 1866, which provides us with the correct spelling of this cultivars name.

Awards: This is the world's first Canna hybrid, introduced in 1848. Winner of Royal Horticultural Societies 'Award of Garden Merit' (AGM) at the 2002 Wisley outdoor trials, 154 years later.

Synonyms: C. glauca var. annaei Petersen, C. 'Omega'

Revisiting Canna 'Bengal Tiger'

A medium sized Italian Group cultivar; variegated green and yellow foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, orange and red-orange, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is average.

Originated at the Royal Agricultural & Horticultural Society of India, Bengal in the 1950's. It was later taken to South Africa, by Sydney Percy-Lancaster, the Secretary of the Society, when he retired there, hence the synonym of 'Pretoria' when it was 'found' growing there in the late 1960's. Also imported to the USA from India in 1963 by Glasshouse Works. Finally, the name 'Striata' adopted by the RHS is invalid, as that name belongs to a cultivar described in Subtropical Gardening - Robinson 1868, and which is still grown in Europe.

Awards: 2002, 'Award of Garden Merit' (AGM) in the outdoor trials held at RHS Wisley, under the synonym of C. 'Striata'

Synonyms: C. 'African Yellow', C. 'americanallis var. variegata', C. 'aureo-striata', C. 'Damascus Road', C. 'Imperialis', C. 'Kapit', C. 'malaweiensis variegata', C. 'Malaweinses', C. 'malawiensis variegata', C. 'Pallida Variegata', C. 'Panach', C. 'Panaché [France]', C. 'Praetoria', C. 'Pretoria', C. 'Pretoria Dwarf', C. 'Striata (2)', C. 'Striatum', C. 'Striped Wonder', C. 'Tropicanna Gold', C. 'Zebra Summer', C. 'Zebra Sunset'

Forcing Canna rhizomes

If summer flowering Cannas are forced, the flowers will appear earlier than they would if planted outdoors and left to nature. Forcing is done by exposing the rhizomes to controlled temperatures. So, if you have just bought some rhizomes, this is the way to get the best from them during that tricky first season.

Plant the rhizomes in crates or bowls filled with a mixture of peat dust, sand and garden soil and they will treat you to their glorious colours earlier in the season. Asda (part of WalMart) sell washing-up bowls for about £1, and these are suitable for forcing.

• Place the Canna rhizomes into the filled crate or bowl.
  
• Cover them with a thin layer of moist peat dust.
• Place the crates or pots in a dimly lit room at a temperature of 15–18°C.
• Because of this high temperature the soil needs to be slightly moist. However, there is no drainage in the crate, so do not over-water, just keep it moist.
  
• Wait until the first leaves appear.
• Move the crates into a room in full daylight.
• Place the crates outside during the day if the weather is sunny and not frosty so that the plants can gradually acclimatize
• Bring the crates back indoors in the evening.
• When the leaves are 8–10 cm in size, move the plants to larger individual pots, at least 2 litres in size. This encourages their development and makes them stronger.
• Do not plant the young plants outside until late spring (mid-May) as they are still very sensitive to frost.

Introducing Canna 'Trumeric Yellow'

A recent introduction to the Claines Canna Collection.

A medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured saffron-yellow, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, labellum is saffron-yellow with orange-red spots, stamen is saffron-yellow with orange-red spots, petals green, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average.

The origins of this cultivar are unknown, and there are two strands of possibility. Either this is an ancient cultivar, dating back over 100 years to the epic times of Sprenger and Wintzer, or it is a mutation associated with C. 'Roi Humbert' and C. 'Yellow King Humbert'. More research is needed, but in the meantime we have acquired a great addition to the Italian Group of Cannas. I believe that this temporary name will eventually be replaced by the old, correct name.

Introducing Canna 'Baltazar'

Bogusław Kucharski (Bogdan to his friends), announces a new cultivar he has introduced this year. It is named Canna 'Baltazar'.

C. 'Baltazar' is a medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, branching habit; flowers are open, apricot and light-cream, staminodes are large, edges irregular; fertility unknown; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white.

Spring arrives early in UK

Spring is on the way, with Britons having enjoyed a weekend of sunny weather and forecasters predicting that the bitter, snowy conditions of the past few months are gone.

Much of the country basked in sunshine and unexpected warmth on Saturday with temperatures reaching a peak of 57F (14C) in Durham.

With daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops now in flower and farms reporting their first lambs of the year, it appears that the weather has finally turned.

A Met Office spokesman said that the mild conditions would continue for the next week, with no return to the blizzards and freezing weather that brought parts of the country to a standstill earlier in the month.

"The temperatures were not unusually high for this time of year; it's just that the weather has been so cold of late that it came as a pleasant change," he said.

"For the next week it will be a bit more mixed with a bit less sunshine but temperatures will remain mild and there will be no return to the wintry weather.

"There will be some wintry showers over the north of Scotland but nothing like what we have seen over the last few months."

The Met Office defines spring as beginning on March 1, although it officially starts on the night of March 20 into March 21, the vernal equinox, when the day and night are of equal length.

In the meantime many nurseries in the South West of England are counting the damages caused by the extended freeze, particularly amongst those specializing in palms and other tropical plants.

Temperatures in the polytunnel are rising and shortly we will know which Canna stock plants survived the winter. It is amazing how we are affected by sunshine, just a few warm days and so much negativity evaporates with anticipation of what is to come.

Revisiting Canna 'Calimero'

A small Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are yellow with orange-red blotches, edges regular, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and purple; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Ernest Turc, Angers, France, EU.

Revisiting Canna 'Burgundy Blush'

A giant Foliage Group cultivar; dark green with a burgundy blush foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, branching habit; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured cherry-red, staminodes are small, low bloomer; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 7 cm in diameter, coloured purple.

Introduced by David Peterson, USA. A hybrid cross between Canna 'Musaefolia Grande' and C. 'Purpurea floribunda'

Revisiting Canna 'Burbank'

A medium sized aquatic Italian Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, ovoid shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are cupped, yellow with red spots, staminodes are large, edges irregular, stamen is yellow, petals green, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Luther Burbank, California, USA in 1896. Although a contemporary of C. 'Austria', this cultivar differs by being closer to the wild species C. flaccida in its behaviour. In tropical climates this could become a thug, as it is so prolific. This makes it great for Northern European climates where it thrives in a more controlled way.

Synonyms: C. 'Epiphany', C. 'Sunshine', C. 'Sunshine Yellow'

Revisiting Canna 'Bonnezeaux'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, self-coloured yellow, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, fully self-cleaning, low bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average.

Introduced by Pierre Turc, France.

Weather in England improves

The weather freeze is now over and the weather forecast shows the next 10 days will be frost-free in our area.

Over the weather freeze the Canna parcels at Claines Canna had built up in the spare room, as we prefer not to post frost-tender Cannas during freezing weather. If the Canna material has to stand overnight in unheated vans or warehouses, then there is a high likelihood of frost damage. This has happened to me several times as a buyer, and it is distressing to open a parcel to see a mess of black mush looking back at you... but what a relief to have the room back again!

In the meantime, the collection lies in the ground inside polytunnels and protected by a layer of fleece. In the next few weeks we should see the surviving plants pushing up new shoots, and then we will start to get spring fever! Yeah!

Time for a second seed sowing

The first sowing of seeds is now in pots and growing away healthily, although we watch out every day for fungal growth. If any is spotted then we use a copper based solution to eliminate it.

So, now is the time for a second sowing and the picture below shows more batches of seed that have been scarified and now soak in warm water to encourage them to germinate and start the growth process.

The Canna seeds are soaking up the luxury of a hot spa, sorry no spray jets, in a heated incubator that keeps their daytime temperature at 25 degrees Centigrade. Here we are trying to persuade the scarified seeds to pop-out their first growth, see the picture below, so that we can extract it from the heated water environment and pot them up into something more conventional.

Above is a germinated Canna seed, showing the original scarification at the bottom, and the white embryo bursting out, by pushing open the trap-door (hylem) in the thick Canna seed shell. This is why, when I am scarifying the seed, if I can't identify where the trapdoor is located then I nick the seed on the side instead. Probably that is the best policy anyway.

Once the seed has germinated we insert it into a peat pot, filled with a peat-based compost with added nutrients and wait for the shoots to show above the soil level, as per the photograph below.

To illustrate what is happening with the seed below the surface of the soil in the pot, we have a photograph of a seedlings that we raised in a test tube, which shows all the "below ground" action taking place while we wait for that first shoot. With very special seeds we always grow them invitro, as we always feel more confident in getting a result in a test tube. However, it too expensive to use for several hundreds of seedlings each year.

Revisiting Canna 'Baronne de Pouilly'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, upright habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, flamingo pink and pale pink with a fine thin yellow edge, throat clear pink, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, labellum is rose lined, stamen is pale yellow with pink markings, petals red, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Synonym: C. 'Marquise de Poilly'

Cannas in Australian drought

Correspondance from Raelene of Canpelkni Blooms, Australia

Following fires threatening her parents’ home, Raelene at Canpelkni Blooms confirmed that their own Cannas are OK. She stated that “I’m constantly amazed at how drought tolerant they are; they just keep flowering although most aren’t as tall as in earlier years, and they just need more water. I’m still carting it outside from two showers, still collecting the water from the bowl under sink, table wiping and the kids half cups of drunk water etc., I salvage it all, and at least I’m getting good upper body strength, lol!”

“I now have a 90,000 gallon water tank set up and another 5,000 litre tank that’s full but has to be joined up to the big one, and we got 3 inches of rain about 2 months ago. It half filled the big tank and overflowed the smaller one. I’ve watered my cannas with it 3 times, they all got a quick overhead watering at the end of the three days in a row of 43+ degrees Celsius that we had about two weeks ago. It pepped them up. As part of our routine, plants on trial get the laundry grey water, these are taller and lush, how a Canna should be, with the 43 deg heat they didn’t even get a blade of leaf scorch. However other parts of my garden are only bucket watered, and these are still flowering and received about 30 percent leaf scorch. Plants that were on trial for identification that I've already got don’t get any water, unless it’s from the skies. Fence line cannas get nothing, and as a result they’re starting to look a bit tatty now, even though they are still flowering.”

“Some seedlings I planted about a month ago popped open its first flower today, the plant is just over a foot tall, another two are sending up the flower stem and these are even shorter at approx 20 cms, stress does wonderful things, these I water fairly regularly say a 10 litre bucket twice a week, still getting a few double stems etc, have a pic of a double header, this I haven’t seen here before, with those 3 hot days it never had chance to open its double head, as it as on the corner of a row and not high on the list for giving water too.”

“Yesterday we got about 20 drops of rain, seriously it was nothing, its gone before it lands-for these plants those 3 hot days we had sucked the moisture from them and left them dry and crispy, the only green you could see was a half foot of the lower stems, these have now recovered and are growing again and showing the odd flowers, I still haven’t watered them, but I do need to trim and tidy them up.”

“I don’t have enough water to grow them all to perfection, but they are thriving very well compared to last summer, and parts of my garden that are established would survive on natural rainfall alone, well certainly the fence line cannas do, these are all a minimum of 1.2 metres in height so they reach the top wire height. Some are that dry they only reach about 50 cms and of course they’re always flowering but the quality and size of the bloom is restricted. They are well mulched and when I dig them to post sales orders they are dry, yet have perfect white healthy roots and rhizomes. That recent 3 inches of rain didn’t even get down through the mulch.”

“About 4 years ago, before the water restrictions came in, you could stand tall and be hidden by the Cannas, but now I have to squat so my 3 kids don’t find me when I want some quiet time, lol.”

“I simply love all my cannas, I don’t know what else would give me so much colour and joy in our dry conditions; our cow paddocks are back to dust, once again even the weeds have turned yellow and gone to a better place. The drought that we have now has come much later compared to last summer, and that is probably why they have coped so well compared to then.”

“Betta go, empty some buckets out then shower. Things will improve but not this summer, for next summer I'll start watering early spring from the tank and re-mulch and they will be better off over the summer. The pictures above were all taken on 7th Jan this year, not the tallest for height, but they were perfect beautiful plants... take care.”

Raelene, Victoria State, Australia

Canpelkni Blooms

Canpelkni Blooms and the fires

Following anxious inquiries from Alice Harris and myself over the welfare of herself and family following the recent horrific fires in Victoria State, Australia, Raelene of Canpelkni Blooms responded stating that “We are about 1.5 hours from the Melbourne fires, and we are safe, with no fires in our area this season; hubby and I are both in the local fire brigade, 2 kms down the road. I always worry when the pager goes off, and always constantly reminded when I go to town as the fire trucks are often parked roadside ready for dispatch.”

“I went away at the weekend the Melbourne fires started to my home town of Horsham for a late Xmas gathering, it is about two and a half hours from Melbourne. Mum and dad reside in Haven on the outskirts of Horsham; my grandparents have passed away, grandpa in 2007 and nan in 08, their house was empty of residents but still full of love, joy, memories and happiness, and thankfully most of the mementos had been put into storage, the picture below I took the day after it was destroyed by fire.”

Dale McDonnell earlier commented that “Raelene was at her parent's home when the fires broke out and had been helping to save the house for most of the day. She said she never knew her parents owned so many garden hoses! Unfortunately, her grandparent's house has gone and the houses either side of her brother's home have both been burnt to the ground, as has the local shop just a few hundred metres from where Raelene is. In fact, she says it is still burning.”

“In typical Raelene fashion, she tells me she found some new/old cannas just before the fires started late this morning.”

Raelene went on to state that, “My nan was a devoted gardener, and I learnt so much from her. I can still see us in her front garden- behind the wire fence; she had stuff growing everywhere, even out the back in the chook yard and the wood yard to the right of the pic. A 30 metre stroll to the outside toilet would take 20 minutes, as there were 100’s of potted and hanging plants to admire on the way. Grandpa was a veggie grower and supplied the shops in Horsham by horse and cart, and as kids we used to run down the veggie rows and knock the fruits etc and get growled at! But I remember it was such fun running between those veggies and jumping those strawberry rows, lol, now all that can be seen is one of his rotary hoes burnt out, sorry if I'm rambling too much.”

“The day the big fires started it was 46 deg centigrade in Horsham (Haven), I think Melbourne weather was the same too. It was so windy, and we had dust storms in Horsham throwing twigs, leaves and dirt everywhere, and I presume Melbourne weather was the same. The heat and the speed of the wind had the upper hand, some of these Melbourne fires are in mountain country, trees everywhere, and they had no hope. Honestly, I think I've heard enough on the TV, I don't mean to be mean but its starting to depress me or something, I know life is so valuable and sometimes some of us forget, but this is too harsh for our minds to comprehend.”

“The Cannas are ok, I’m constantly amazed at how drought tolerant they are, they just keep flowering although most aren’t as tall as earlier years, and they just need more water.”

Typical of Raelene, she didn’t mention the fire fight that they had protecting her parents property. Raelene went on to describe in detail the effects on her Cannas, and that will be the subject of tomorrows blog.

Canpelkni Blooms

Revisiting Canna 'Angel Pink'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oblong shaped, spreading habit; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured apricot, throat yellow, staminodes are medium size, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is average.

Introduced by Kent Kelly, Quality Gladiolus, Arkansas, USA.

Revisiting Canna 'Amber Cup'

A small Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, small, oval shaped, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are cupped, self-coloured amber, edges regular, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white.

After one day it is bleached white, but it is still very appealing because of its pleasant colouring when first open.

Revisiting Canna 'A. Eisenbarth'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, spreading habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, self-coloured pink, throat lemon, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is slow.

Introduced by W. Pfitzer, Stadt Felbach, Stuttgart, Germany, EU.

Revisiting Canna 'Savennières'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; bronze foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, branching habit; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured orange, staminodes are medium size, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter.

Introduced by Turcieflor, France, EU in 2002.

Australia burns -continued...

Dale McDonell has reported to the International Canna Group that, "Just heard from Raelene who is on this list. She was at her parent's home when the fires broke out and has been helping to save the house for most of the day. She said she never knew her parents owned so many garden hoses. Her grandparent's house has gone. The houses either side of her brother's home have both been burnt to the ground as has the local shop just a few hundred metres from where Raelene is. In fact, she says it is still burning."

"In typical Raelene fashion she tells me she found some new/old cannas just before the fires started late this morning."

"Things are very bad across the whole state of Victoria. We are talking about an area bigger than the whole British Isles including Ireland. Hundreds of homes burnt and to date 30 dead, but many more fatalities expected to be discovered when fire crews can access areas still ablaze. Fire fighting resources are stretched well past their limit and some areas can receive no help. Ambulances cannot reach injured people. It is a dire situation."

"We just had a telephone call from our neighbor who went to stay with friends for the weekend. We are feeding and watering livestock while they are away. He broke down on the phone and went into shock as his wife was explaining things on the phone. They have been fighting all afternoon to help save their friend's house where they were staying. Animals in the paddocks all dead but they saved the house. Exhaustion and heat stress took their toll."

Dale confirned that, "We are safe here but the air is full of smoke. Just went to put the sprinklers on the canna beds and swinging the torch across the area I was greeted with a host of freshly opening blooms and bright, healthy foliage. They are amazing plants."

Canpelkni Blooms, Australia

Dale and her Cannas shriveling in the heat

From Victoria State, in Southern Australia, Dale McDonnell reports that she and her Cannas are shriveling. The temperature on her patio on the cool east side of our house is 48.9 degrees Celsius -- over 120 degrees Fahrenheit. There is a blistering hot gale blowing and her whole garden is shriveling as she watches, despite being heavily watered last night. Even the privet hedge has dropped all its leaves. The air is filled with smoke and dust coming from further north.

Dale stated that, "Major bushfires are raging in several areas of the State, but fortunately none close to us. With the record temperatures and gale force winds, the volunteer fire fighters of the Country Fire Authority have no hope of controlling or even containing these fires. The wind is so strong, I doubt the fire dousing helicopters will be able to fly. Spare a prayer for those being affected by these fires, many of which have been deliberately lit by fire bugs."

"A cool change is predicted for the southern part of the State. Let's hope it brings rain with it. No relief for us in the north until Sunday."

"It will be interesting to see how the Cannas come through this. Newly planted cannas in a bed outside our back door are laughing at the conditions and look fantastic, but they are protected from the worst of the wind by the house."

Revisiting Canna 'Saladin'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; bronze foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; panicles of flowers are open, pink with carmine spots, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured pink and purple; tillering is slow.

Saladin, Arabic in full Salah Ad-Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub ("Righteousness of the Faith, Joseph, Son of Job"), also called Al-Malik An-Nasir Salah Ad-Din Yusuf I (b. 1137/38, Tikrit, Mesopotamia--d. March 4, 1193, Damascus), Muslim sultan of Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Palestine, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, and the most famous of Muslim heroes. In wars against the Christian crusaders, he achieved final success with the disciplined capture of Jerusalem (Oct. 2, 1187), ending its 88-year occupation by the Franks. The great Christian counterattack of the Third Crusade was then stalemated by his military genius.

Revisiting Canna 'Russian Red' AGM

A tall Foliage Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, transparent margin; oval stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured orange, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Ed Sneyder, USA.

Participated in the Royal Horticultural Society, England Canna Trials at Wisley in 2002, where it received the AGM; submitted by Hart Cannas.

Synonym: C. 'indica var. Russian Red'

Introducing Canna 'Miss Poland'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, branching habit; flowers are open, self-coloured white, staminodes are large; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is slow.

Introduced by Boguslaw Kucharski, Poland in 2009. The breeding is a cross between Canna 'Tall White' and C. 'Ermine'.

Co-op weighs into battle to save honeybees

The Co-op has announced that suppliers of its own-brand produce will henceforth be banned from using eight pesticides "implicated" in Colony Collapse Disorder - the unexplained disappearance of millions of honeybees which has hit hives worldwide.

The supermarket chain said growers on its 70,000 acres of land in England and Scotland would not "where possible" use the neonicotinoid family of chemicals "until they are shown to be safe", as the Guardian puts it. The Co-op has, the paper notes, since 2001 "prohibited the use of 98 pesticides under its pesticide policy".

Scientific tests have suggested a possible link between one of the banned chemicals, imidacloprid, and disruption of honeybees' "sophisticated communication and navigation systems". France banned its use as a sunflower seed-dressing inseciticide ten years ago, while Germany, Italy and Slovenia last year slapped a blanket ban on the use of neonicotinoids in reponse to the honeybee crisis.

Simon Press, Co-op group senior technical manager, said: "We believe that the recent losses in bee populations need definitive action, and as a result are temporarily prohibiting the eight neonicotinoid pesticides until we have evidence that refutes their involvement in the decline."

The Co-op's pesticide ban forms part of its 10-point Plan Bee, which also includes £150,000 "for research into the impact of pesticides on the decline of honeybees in England". Co-op members and customers will benefit from a bee-friendly wildflower seed giveaway.

The Co-op's campaign does not stop at its own doorstep, however. Its head of social goals, Paul Monaghan, said the government had failed to recognise that "pesticides could be a contributing factor" in the honeybees' dramatic decline.

Elliott Carnell, coordinator of Pesticide Action Network Europe, agreed, accusing: "The government has fought against any attempts to protect bees, which pollinate a third of the average diet. It argues that banning pesticides jeopardises crop yields, but if that was the case why would a leading food retailer be introducing this measure?"

While the government has hedged its bets as to what might be responsible for bee deaths, and prefers not to mention Colony Collapse Disorder, it is not entirely indifferent to the crisis. It recently stumped £4.3m "to safeguard and undertake more research into the health of bees" following the Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs' (Defra) decision last year to give "higher priority" to investigating the matter.

Defra's analysis to date is the possible implication of abnormally wet weather - which may have hindered the bees' ability to collect enough food to survive the winter - coupled with the single-celled fungus Nosema, which might have taken advantage of the insects' rain-induced confinement and stressed state to spread with deadly effect.

Canna can survive extreme heat

In correspondence on the International Canna Club site Dale McDonnell replied to a query about how her Cannas were faring in the extreme and exceptional heatwave being experienced in Australia. She wrote:

"The Cannas are just loving the heatwave Malcolm, as long as I keep the soil damp. I've had to hand water a few on the corners of beds where the sprinkler is hit or miss depending on the wind. The really dwarf cannas are struggling though. They just don't have the storage capacity in their rhizomes. 'Pink Sunburst' is just fine. In full sun all day. This is one tough little Canna. The tiddlers are receiving extra TLC., but Sunburst doesn't need any."

"Only watering all the cannas every third day, but giving them a thorough soaking each time. Virtually flood irrigating them with the sprinklers. It normally takes three days to get all the stock beds watered anyway. I just can't rotate the watering cycle any quicker as it depends on the pumping capacity of the big pressure pump. I can only run 7 big sprinklers at a time. Several of the tree lines are on a dripper system as are my silver birches."

C. 'America', taken at 6.30 am after a day of 46.7C, when the pic was taken it was still over 30C

"I have the rest of the place to keep alive and kicking including a small citrus orchard and another of peaches, plums and apricots. There's a vegie garden and beds and borders of other shrubs and stuff. The cannas can't hog all the water. We cannot begin the watering cycle until the sun is almost down or everything gets burnt."

"Canna flowers are not lasting very well and they crisp like brown paper when they are done. Even the self cleaners are looking messy. The flower collapses and wraps itself around the seed pod and dries there. Still, I have quite a good show of bloom and the foliage is looking magnificent. The various white cannas all look a mess and the blooms are spoiling before they open. Reds are much the same but the pinks, yellows and oranges seem almost impervious to the heat. Even very thin, textured, pale, pinks are looking great. It's a little weird to look at over 400 cannas and see hardly any sign of red in the beds. 'King Humbert' and 'America' are the only reds in flower and the foliage is holding its colour magnificently in both. So much for knocking the floppy Italians for transient blooms. 'Asia, 'Austria', 'Burbank', 'Wyoming', 'Africa' 'Italia', 'Roma', 'Tropicanna Gold, 'Durban', 'America' and another unidentified, dark foliaged burnt orange Italian, are all looking wonderful but 'Mrs. Kate Gray', 'Trinacria Variegata' and 'Britannia' are not flowering or even trying to flower. All the Crozy type reds are just burnt, brown pompoms on top of the stems and anything showing strong C. glauca influence is struggling - once again, the cause is skinny, small rhizomes under them."

C. 'Italia', photo taken same time as C. 'America', above

"Every time I give the old Wisteria a deep soaking it bursts into bloom again. So far this Summer it has flowered five times. Brugmansias in the shadehouse have dropped most of their leaves and just have tufts at the end of each branch. They are receiving ample water, but just can't hack the extreme heat. Still popping out the odd flower or two."

"The deciduous trees are shedding a lot of leaves also, to save transpiration, but they are okay, just looking sparser. The Silver Birches are really struggling despite nightly deep watering. Young trees purchased bare rooted, and only in the ground for 16 months. On the severely stressed trees we are leaving a sprinkler running very low all day. Partly for the trees and partly for the poor birds to gather under. Every patch of permanent shade has a dish of water for the birds too. It's too hot for them to even fly down to the irrigation channel 80 metres away. They are very distressed."

"The Quince plantation only receives a watering once a month and they are thriving and loaded with fruit. These are older trees and well established. Fig trees keep shedding their leaves and then trying to grow new ones which burn to a crisp despite deep soakings - again, they are young trees, so do not have extensive root systems yet. They are hanging on to their unripe fruit though. The roses have stopped blooming and shed leaves, but they will come back fast as soon as things cool down."

"It has been so hot that the fruit on my pair of cumquats has dessicated as if it has been in a food drying machine. I was going to offer an earthy description of them, but it might offend city folk. Just think shrunken, flabby, miniature, bull and ram appendages hanging all over the trees! I'm about to pick some tomorrow and let them plump up in the brandy bottle. The trees themselves are just fine."

"Still sizzling here. No relief for at least another week the weather boffins tell us. Sorry if this is more than you ever wanted to know about heatwave conditions."

Our thanks to Dale for such a detailed description, which adds considerably to our understanding of how our Cannas respond to the weather extremes. As a total contrast, the picture below shows the Canna beds at Hart Canna in England yesterday.

Canna 'President' was 'Oiseau de Feu'

The first rhizome of Canna 'The President' that we purchased at Claines Canna was from a British Garden Catalogue in 2001, accession 15 in our collection. The accompanying documentation stated that it was imported from the USA.

We never queried it's origins and simply grew it for several years before it began to dawn on us that this specimen did not match the descriptions we were reading from others and from the old catalogues we were collecting as we learned more about Cannas.

On the 10 July 2004 we purchased a Canna 'Oiseau de Feu', aka 'Firebird', accession 335. Growing the two alongside each other it became apparent that what we had purchased as C. 'President' was actually C. 'Oiseau de Feu'.

Keith Hayward, of Hart Canna, often states that when you buy pre-packaged Cannas you acquire 3 things:

• a rhizome
• a name
• a picture

And the only thing that you can be sure of is that none of them match!

Australia burns

While in the Northern states of the USA and Europe we suffer ever more freezing weather, down-under in Australia the weather is just as extreme. The states of South Australia and Victoria recorded temperatures above 109F (43C) on Friday.

As the mercury rose, bushfires raged across eastern Victoria, fuelled by bone dry conditions and sweeping winds. The "brutal" weather broke records in the city of Melbourne, which for the first time experienced three consecutive days above 109F (43C). At the hottest part of the day, the city suffered 113F (45.1C). And the temperatures failed to fall at night, with residents attempting to sleep through 100F (38C) 107F heat.

Sweltering temperatures also hit the usually-temperate island of Tasmania, which had its hottest day on record, reaching 107F (42.2C).

The soaring heat took its toll on the elderly and infirm, with police and ambulance crews in Adelaide, where temperatures hit 109F (43.1C), reporting a sharp rise in the number of sudden deaths, with at least 19 people in the city believed to have died as a direct result of the heat wave.

There was chaos in Melbourne, where rising temperatures caused power outages, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of trains. Commuters, described as "cooking in the heat", were stuck on trains and trams for hours. Some benevolent companies offered to let their employees leave early, but in a rare exhibition of presenteeism in January, workers decided to linger in their air-conditioned offices rather than take their chances on the baking streets below. Children were sent home from school and hotels reported a spike in bookings as hot home-owners sought out fully-air-conditioned rooms.

At least 400,000 homes across Victoria remained without power and the state's government is convening to consider limiting electricity use to prevent further blackouts. But there is little respite in sight. Adelaide is preparing for its longest hot spell since 1908, with forecasters tipping temperatures above 107F (38C) for the next seven days.

In the meantime in the UK, snow is coming our way from Russia and a long freeze is forecast. And still some people are saying that there is no global weather change?