Introduced by P. Schmid, Germany, EU.
More than other Canna species, C. discolor is used extensively in agriculture in Asia. It grows high yields of very large rhizomes, sometimes the size of a man's arm, exceedingly rich in starch. Still planted in Indian villages as a minor crop.
Discolor means 'two-coloured-leaved', and introduced to England from Trinidad, 1827 (Johnson's Dictionary 1856). Found by the coast of South America, the West Indies and in temperate valleys of the Andes. Usually found at the edges of moist thickets or in ditches.
Dr. Maas considers Canna discolor to be a synonym of C. indica L., however, Dr Tanaka's studies have revealed that C. indica can be clearly distinguished from other taxa. It is a triploid, and is sterile both ways.
Synonyms: C. 'Achira Dark', C. 'Brick', C. 'Brick canna', C. discolor
Introduced by W. Pfitzer, Fellbach, Germany, EU. Synonyms are: C. 'Directeur Wallmark', C. 'Direktor Walmark'
The history of this cultivar is shrouded in mystery, and somehow you feel that it just should be an old heritage variety, but we simply don't know.
Introduced by Mrs Marcelle Sheppard, Orange County, Texas, USA. The breeding is C. ‘Eureka’ x C. ‘Confetti’. Once again, ‘Eureka’ shows itself to be an excellent pod parent. Eureka dates back over one hundred years and deserves its long-term popularity in the garden, as well as its effectiveness in any breeding program.
Introduced by Carl Schoenfeld of Yucca-Do Nursery. Dr. Tanaka commented that this is most likely a naturally occurring hybrid between Canna glauca and Canna indica. This makes sense because it was discovered geographically centred between the ranges of the two species.
Introduced by C. Sprenger, Dammann & Co., Naples, Italy, EU in 1907. Featured in the 1908 outdoor RHS trials at Wisley, without success. The only known synonym is C. ' Deutscher'.
Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2008. The breeding is C. 'Doreen Morris' x open, and was named for Croome Court, a local country park with glorious gardens.
Given the overwhelming predominance of Brown's aesthetic in the 18th and 19th centuries, Croome Park has often been described as the single most influential landscape in Europe. Robert Adam and James Wyatt designed temples and follies for the park and surrounding estate.
In 1996 670 acres of the park were acquired by the National Trust, which has undertaken an ambitious restoration.
Croome landscape park is made up of many different buildings, the Court being the central focus. Named "eyecatchers", these buildings are set high on ridges seen from near the court such as Pirton Castle, The Panorama Tower and Dunstall Castle.
Introduced by W. Pfitzer, Stadt Fellbach, Germany, EU. Synonyms are American Beauty, Pfitzer’s Crimson Beauty
In recent decades season creep has been observed, which means that many phenological signs of spring are occurring earlier in many regions by a couple of days per decade. This year has been no different and many plants are now in flower that we would not have expected to see for weeks during my childhood. However, it is significant that this first morning we will have temperatures of 0C (32F) at 6am this morning. Welcome to spring.
The Claines Canna Collection is growing in the soil, protected and heated by polytunnels. About 30% of the plants are now shooting out sprouts, and there is a different smell in the tunnels, compared with mid-winter.
Several chores have to be performed in the next few weeks, the first being to spray the plants with a fungicidal health dose, we use Physan 20. This is billed as a bactericide, fungicide, viricide, and algaecide and we picked up the product from friends who collect and grow orchids, and who swear by it. We used it for the first time last year, and we had no problems, so another dose this year is called for. The other task is to remove all of the old dried stems, as the new young stems appear. The old stems were retained to provide support for the fleece covering and to act as a marker.
However,according to the Meteorological Office spring is already here.
It classes the first day of spring as 1 March, saying March, April and May are regarded as the spring months. But traditionally spring has started on the night of 20/21 March and a row has erupted over the official date.
"You would not regard the first three weeks of June as spring, yet historically summer does not start until 21 June," says a spokesman for the Met Office. "Equally, the bulk of people now regard 1 March as the first day of spring."
But disgruntled MPs are questioning "on whose authority" the date has been changed. This is a joke, they have no training or authority to decide when spring starts, but these dysfunctionals think that they should decide!
Introduced by Takii & Co., Japan. in late 1990's. One of the Island Series, in total there are: C. 'Corsica', C. 'Gran Canaria', C. 'Kreta', and C. 'Madeira'. They were originally propagated as meristem cultures and distributed as small plugs, but apparently Canna does not lend itself easily to that form of culture and they have been removed from widespread commercial production.
A small Crozy Group cultivar; bronze foliage, mucronate shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured purple; flowers are open, self-coloured red-orange, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, petals purple with farina, 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 Georges Truffaut, France, EU in 1966. The name is French for "Humming Bird".
For the UK and much of northern Europe precipitation is likely to be average or below average.In contrast, average or above-average rainfall is likely over southern Europe and the central Mediterranean.
We base our average rainfall measurements on readings taken between 1971 and 2000. In the UK for March to May, this is 231.7 mm.
Temperatures
For the UK and western Europe spring this year is likely to be cooler than last year, with mean temperatures either near or below average.In contrast, mean temperatures are likely to be near average or above average over much of eastern Europe.
As you would expect, temperatures are usually higher at the end of spring than they are at the start. So we take the average of the whole season and measure against that. The average for March–May from 1971–2000 is 7.4 °C.
An update to the spring forecast will be issued at 10 a.m. on 25 March 2009.
A first outlook for summer 2009 will be issued at 10 a.m. on 31 March 2009.
At an emergency climate summit in Copenhagen, scientists agreed that "worst case" scenarios were already becoming reality and that, unless drastic action was taken soon, "dangerous climate change" was imminent.
In a strongly worded message that, unusually for academics, appealed directly to politicians, they said there was "no excuse for inaction" and that "weak and "ineffective" governments must stand up to big business and "vested interests".
Steps should be "vigorously and widely implemented", they said, to reduce greenhouse gases. Failure to do so would result in "significant risk" of "irreversible climatic shifts", the statement added.
The plea came as Lord Stern, the former chief economist of the World Bank whose report two years ago drew attention to the possible results of global warming, told the conference that unless politicians grasped the gravity of the situation it would be "devastating".
Increases in average temperatures of six degrees by the end of the century were an increasing possibility and would produce conditions not seen on Earth for more than 30 million years, he said.
That could mean massive rises in sea level, whole areas devastated by hurricanes and others turned into uninhabitable desert, he claimed, forcing billions of people to leave their homelands.
He told the summit that politicians continued to underestimate the impact of climate change and that scientists needed to redouble their efforts to get them to understand. "Much of southern Europe would look like the Sahara. Many of the major rivers of the world, serving billions of people, would dry up in the dry seasons or re-route.
"What would be the implication? Hundreds of millions of people would have to move, probably billions. What would be the implication of that? Extended conflict, social disruption, war essentially, over much of the world for many decades."
Prof Kevin Anderson, the research director at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in Manchester, said: "Scientists have lost patience with carefully constructed messages being lost in the political noise. We are now prepared to stand up and say enough is enough."
The Prince of Wales is to deliver a major speech on climate change to Brazilian business leaders as he continues his tour of South America.Charles will issue a dire environmental warning to the world and say how nations have "less than 100 months to act" before the damage caused by climate change becomes irreversible.
The world is experiencing an economic slowdown but in his speech in Rio de Janeiro, the prince will say that in a recession people must not lose sight of the importance of continuing to combat global warming and protect the environment.
Charles will also talk about the importance of the business community joining the fight against climate change.
The address follows a series of speeches over the past 12 months where the prince has highlighted his growing concerns about the state of the planet.
Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall are touring South America and have already visited Chile and will spend a further three days in Brazil before travelling to Ecuador and its Galapagos islands.
Our earliest reference to this specimen is Johnson’s Dictionary 1856.
Synonyms: C. coccinéa, C. indica 'coccinea', C. indica var. coccinea
Introduced by Ernest Turc, Angers, France, EU.
Introduced by Mrs Marcelle Sheppard, Texas, USA.
One of the advantages in using a polytunnel is that the specially formulated plastic covering traps heat from the sun and the daytime temperatures in the tunnel will be at least double those shown on the graph above. This has the effect of heating the soil during the day and when the outside temperatures drop overnight that stored heat will double the tunnels' overnight temperatures, as shown above.
If a Canna enthusiast has just a few specimens then the time honoured advice to store in a greenhouse or garage is still the most appropriate, but for anyone with a large number of plants to over-winter I would suggest that they consider growing in the ground inside a poly tunnel as a serious, proven, and practical approach.
Introduced by W. Pfitzer, Stadt Felbach, Stuttgart, Germany, EU. Synonyms are C. 'Pfitzer’s Salmon Pink', C. 'Pfitzer's Salmon', C. 'Pfitzers Salmon Pink'.
Introduced by Kent Kelly, Quality Gladiolus, Arkansas, USA. An outstanding, modern, self-cleaning cultivar. Hardier than most Cannas and able to tolerate mild winters as well as heat-wave summers.
After a mild end to February when England basked in spring-like sunshine, winter is set to return with a vengeance, forecasters predicted yesterday.
In the collection of the Royal Agri-Horticultural Society , Alipore, Calcutta, India. Dr. Khoshoo & Dr. I. Guha: Evolution of Cultivated Canna 1966.
Synonym: C. 'Black Velvet'
Introduced by Ian K. Cooke, Nottingham, England, EU. Grown mainly for its architectural significance and its magnificent foliage.
Synonym: C. 'Argentia'
