Canna 'Sophia Young'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; triangular stems, coloured green; spikes of flowers are open, burnt-red rayed with old-rose, staminodes are large, edges lightly frilled, petals red, 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 and purple; tillering is prolific.
Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. Seedling of C. 'Joseph Buchan' x open pollination. Thanks to Dale for the seed.

More on porous hose

Dale McDonnell wrote from Australia to give her opinion on the porous hoses that we are using at Claines Canna, she wrote…

This leaky hose stuff is excellent, but do keep it under a layer of mulch as it breaks down like any rubber product when exposed to direct sunlight.

If placed on top of the garden beds above the mulch, it will only last two seasons here in Australia. Under mulch you should get seven or eight seasons out of it. This hose also slices easily if hit with a fork or spade! Keep a few joiners on hand to repair any accidental demolishing when using garden tools.

It doesn't work very well on a sloping garden bed either. The water all runs downhill and pools at the lowest point.

If you have light, sandy soil, you need to run the lines of leaky hose very closely together (30-35 cms) as the water soaks in rapidly and lateral spread is minimal.

In heavier clay soils the lines of hose can be up to 90 cms., apart. I think the manufacturers say you can lay it 1 metre apart, but for perennial plants, that is just too far. It would be fine for shrubs and trees though.

In my last garden I had miles of the stuff laid and the garden really appreciated the thorough deep soaking the leaky hose provided. Everything responded much better to this method than to overhead watering from sprinklers. The deep soaking at longer intervals, (weekly in hot weather) encouraged the roots to delve deeply down rather than hang about near the surface in the hope of a shower every couple of days.

If you have a largish garden, you can buy leaky hose in 100 metre rolls, which is more economical than buying it in dinky little 20 metre packages from your nursery or hardware store. Use the business listings in the telephone directory to find irrigation suppliers selling poly pipe, or ask the nursery/hardware to order it in for you in bulk.

A trick to bear in mind when using this product is to try and have the hose running in a loop, joined with a "T" join. Attach your water supply to the long leg of the "T". By doing this you even up the pressure in the leaky hose through the entire length of the run. If you do not do this, then the end of the garden bed where your leaky hose has a stop plug, will receive far more water than that nearest to your water attachment.

Do not turn your tap on full blast when using this leaky hose stuff. If you see any tiny fountains blossoming upwards, you know your tap is turned on too much. Over time, you will blow the leaky hose apart, - been there, done that! The hose should just drip and dribble over a long period of around two - three hours.

Unfortunately I cannot use this product here at our new place as we water from irrigation channels and the muddy water clogs up the small pores in the leaky hose.

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."

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.

Is this agro-forestry?

Sheep grazing Dales Canna stock beds

Dale McDonnell has recently recounted a tale of her current problems growing Cannas in rural Australia.

Due to having limited mobility for the past 11 months, the weeds in her stock beds were out of control, particularly the clover. There was also an issue that those of us in Northern Europe do not have to contend with, that of disturbing snakes hidden in this overgrowth!

In desperation, Dale turned their small flock of Wiltshire Horn ewes and lambs into the area. In just a few days they have done a wonderful job and now she can feel confident of getting on top of things, and is also much happier about toddling down the rows and not stepping on an unseen snake.

As usual, Dale is an observant journalist and concluded that:-

• Most sheep do not like the taste of cannas.
  
• One lamb adores them but is very fussy as to which varieties he munches. 'Lilian Cole' Italia' and 'Roma' are his favourites. Burgundy and variegated foliage is not to his taste.
  
• 'King Humbert' makes a cool, inviting mattress to lay on when the temperature soars to blast furnace proportions. Result - flattened!
  
• All sheep love to eat Daylilies.

Dale concluded that the damage done by the sheep was minimal, and on the whole it was a successful exercise.

Thanks Dale, we love your personal stories of life in Australia, and I will be less resentful of weeding our own beds when I remember that I don't have to contend with snakes, just the occasional toad!