Canna 'Dessert'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; dark green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; flowers are open, apricot and pale yellow, staminodes are large, edges frilled, stamen is yellow, style is yellow, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; 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 Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. Breeding is Canna 'Topaz' x C. 'Ella Dalebö'

Claines Canna Sales

At Claines Canna (Margaret and Malcolm Dalebö, relatives and friends) we have been forced to come to the conclusion that this year we are going to have to take a sabbatical from rhizome sales. The weather last summer was so bad that we are no longer certain of the the state of health of our Canna collection. So many plants produced bad foliage, much of which could be virus, but we hope it was just weather stress, and we believe we have to grow them all again this season before we can be confident of what we have.

We will never knowingly sell Canna rhizomes with virus. We cannot be sure of the health of more than a handful of plants, after last years flooding and desperate lack of sunlight. We are one of the most northerly of Canna growers and we believe that we suffered more than most.

So, we have to say sorry to everybody who has approached us about Canna sales this year. We hope that you understand that we are doing this for the right reasons, and hope to be able to present everyone with a virus-free catalogue next year.

We have published a catalogue on the Claines Canna web site, but it is for academic reasons rather than sales. It records our new cultivars for this year and the new accessions to our collection made or confirmed last year. We hope that it is of interest.

We are determined to achieve our goal of offering a virus-free catalogue next year, and this is the only way that we can achieve that goal.

Canna 'Dessert'

New introduction

A small Crozy Group cultivar; dark green foliage, ovoid shaped, branching habit; flowers are open, apricot and pale yellow, staminodes are large, edges frilled, stamen is yellow, style is yellow, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; 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 Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. Breeding is Canna 'Topaz' x C. 'Ella Dalebö'

Weather pixies take pity on us!

The first frosts in western England arrive from mid-October onwards. After the worst summer on record, it looks like the weather pixies have decided to give us a small treat, and haven't sent Jack Frost to visit us yet. Even more pleasing, the 10 day weather forecast tells us that there will not be any frost during that time, temperatures will go as low as 4 degrees, but that is all. That would be the middle of November before we shiver to a frost!

Canna 'Dessert', a new introduction for 2008, still flowering outdoors

It is remarkable to look out onto the breeding plants and the collection and to see them still flowering away. The lack of sunshine, due to the shorter daylight at this time of the year, means that the flowers are all a bit smaller than in the summer, and some of them struggle to open properly, but what the heck! The fact that we will have a shorter winter this year is quite an enjoyable thought.

Have I just tempted the weather pixies to play games with us next spring?