Canna 'Percy Lancaster'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, white margin, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, yellow heavily spotted with red, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round.

Introduced by S. Percy-Lancaster, Alipore Cannas, Calcutta, India. In the collection of the Royal Agri-Horticultural Society , Alipore, Calcutta, India. Dr. Khoshoo & Dr. I. Guha: Evolution of Cultivated Canna, 1966. Named by the breeder for his father, Mr Percy Lancaster who founded the Alipore Canna Collection in the early 1890's.

Synonym: C. 'Journey's End'

Canna 'Journey's End'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, pale yellow heavily spotted with rose-red, staminodes are large, edges regular, fully self-cleaning; 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 average.


Introduced by Ty Ty Nursery. Synonyms: C. 'Fay's Orchid', C. 'Fay's Orchid Red', C. 'Jimmy Carter'. This cultivar does bear a strong resemblance to the old heritage specimen C. 'Percy Lancaster', and we will be growing them together this year to establish if they are the same plant.

Canna 'Journey's End'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped; round stems, coloured green; flowers are open, pale yellow heavily spotted with rose-red, staminodes are large, edges regular, fully self-cleaning; 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 average.

Introduced by Ty Ty Nursery. Synonyms: C. 'Fay's Orchid', C. 'Fay's Orchid Red', C. 'Jimmy Carter'. This cultivar does bear a strong resemblance to the old heritage specimen C. 'Percy Lancaster', and we will be growing them together this year to establish if they are the same plant.

Revisiting Canna 'Percy Lancaster'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, white margin, branching habit; round stems, coloured green; panicles of flowers are open, yellow heavily spotted with red, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round.

Introduced by S. Percy-Lancaster, Alipore Cannas, Calcutta, India. In the collection of the Royal Agri-Horticultural Society , Alipore, Calcutta, India. Dr. Khoshoo & Dr. I. Guha: Evolution of Cultivated Canna, 1966.

Named by the breeder for his father, Mr Percy Lancaster who founded the Alipore Canna Collection in the early 1890's.

A Sahib's Manual for the Mali

A SAHIB’S MANUAL FOR THE MALI
Everyday Gardening in India.
By Sydney Percy-Lancaster.
Edited by Laeeq Futehally.
Published by Permanent Black, Delhi 2005.
ISBN: 81-7824-100-5.

This book is a compilation of Percy Lancaster’s monthly bulletin ‘Garden Chat’, which was produced in Delhi from 1949 to 1952. The last British Superintendent of Horticultural Operations; Lancaster was a dedicated gardener, who had published several other works on gardening in India.

Introduced by Sydney Percy-Lancaster and named for his father

Although intended primarily for people gardening in the Delhi area; it has much that is applicable to many other parts of India, and selected articles from this scarce magazine are here republished for the first time, offering a fascinating and still useful glimpse of Indian gardening in a more leisurely age.

Also, to be remembered, is that the Alipore Canna Collection was founded in 1894 by Mr Lancaster's father and was expanded and popularised by Mr Lancaster in his many published works.

For gardening enthusiasts with an interest in exotic gardening, this makes an interesting winter read, combining both good gardening advice and a little social science.