Why more aquatic cultivars?

About seven years ago I built a small pond in the garden, its dimensions are about 2 metres by 1 metre. Not very large, but in keeping with the size of the garden. This is typical of garden ponds in the UK, somewhere for a couple of fish, a small fountain, a few aquatic plants, especially a water lily, and the inevitable frogs.
Naturally, I immediately planted the Longwood series of aquatic Canna in the special aquatic pots and settled back to enjoy them. True to their reputation they did not fail me as they are true aquatics, flourishing under 15-20cm (approx 6 inches) of water and they grew and they grew. This was their failing for me, they are far too large for a small garden pond. Their height made the pool, which was my pride and joy, look like a small puddle.
The Longwood aquatic cultivars were bred for the large ornamental ponds and lakes of Longwood garden, not for the typical suburban garden puddle. The series consists of Cannas 'Endeavor', 'Ra', 'Erebus' and 'Taney'. My favourite is probably C. 'Erebus', a fine pink specimen, but the intense yellow of C. 'Ra' (below right) is always eye-catching, and the unusual apricot/salmon orange colour of C. 'Taney' is always interesting and last, but not least, we have C. 'Endeavor' (above right), with its attractive bright red flowers.


However, I digress. We had already recreated the earliest Canna species cross, having crossed C. glauca with C. indica. However, instead of obtaining the 2 metre (6'6") tall C. 'Annei', we had obtained seedlings that grew to under 1 metre (3'3"), but with the same glaucous blue, lance shaped foliage. So we decided to see if we could create a series of aquatic cultivars based on these seedlings which all took after the aquatic C, glauca, and more suitable for the small garden pond than the expansive ponds and lakes of Longwood Gardens.

Eventually we ended up with Canna 'Avon', a pale yellow speckled with cerise, Canna 'Severn', which is a golden yellow with some small red spotting, C. 'Usk', that is a distinctive self-coloured burnt-red, C. 'Wye', which is pink tinged with canary-yellow, and C. 'Teme', the 'white' of the series, but really a pleasant self-coloured ivory. Others are still undergoing evaluation, and we are still trying to create the difficult orange one.

Was it worth while? I think so, they look just right and in balance in our small pool, and we find that the gaucous blue, lance shaped foliage that they all share adds the final touch of elegance.
Over the next weeks we will try and post articles on some of these new cultivars.

Canna 'Ouse'

A medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, lanceolate shaped, transparent margin, upright habit; flowers are open, self-coloured canary-yellow, throat old-rose, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, average bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is slow. The curled lip is a quaint feature of this cultivar, and it stands out well against the pink in the throat of all of the staminodes.


Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.
The breeding is C. 'Endeavour' x C. 'Wye'

Canna 'Mersey'

A medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; light green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured cerise-pink, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, self-pollinating but not true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. The breeding is Canna 'Avon' x C. 'Wye'.

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Canna 'Mersey'

A medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; light green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured cerise-pink, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, self-pollinating but not true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. The breeding is Canna 'Avon' x C. 'Wye'.

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Hard to store Cannas

Another vintage catalogue arrives, and Dreer's Catalogue of 1937 has an item that I feel I should share, as it is quite interesting.

The catalogue had a boxed feature called "Two Sensational Cannas". It referred to C. 'Mary Thilow' and C. 'Mrs. Pierre S du Pont'.

The boxed item stated that "These two varieties, owing to the fact that the roots are very difficult to store, will be supplied as growing plants only. These will be ready March 1st."

It has been our experience that the most difficult Cannas to store over the winter are the Aquatic Group. This is worse for the F1 aquatic hybrids like C. 'Ra', and C. 'Wye', but also applies to those F2 hybrids like C. 'Burbank', C. 'Austria', and C. 'Roma'.

I have only read about C. 'Mary Thilow', mentioned above, and it would be interesting to hear from anybody else who has any knowledge of that cultivar in recent times. The description in the Deer's catalogue stated that it has "Bronze foliage and brilliant rosy salmon flowers. 4ft (1.3m)."

Introducing Canna 'Mersey'

A medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; light green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured cerise-pink, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, self-pollinating but not true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007. The breeding is Canna 'Avon' x C. 'Wye'.

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Introducing Canna 'Wye'

A small aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; glaucous green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; spikes of flowers are reflexed, pink tinged with canary-yellow, staminodes are narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, self-pollinating and true to type, capsules ellipsoid; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is average.

Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2006. It is a seedling of C. ‘Teme’ x self.

The Claines Canna Aquatics have been bred to populate garden ponds that are just a few metres square, compared with the much larger Longwood Aquatics destined for huge ponds and lakes.

Why more aquatic cultivars?

About seven years ago I built a small pond in the garden, its dimensions are about 2 metres by 1 metre. Not very large, but in keeping with the size of the garden. This is typical of garden ponds in the UK, somewhere for a couple of fish, a small fountain, a few aquatic plants, especially a water lily, and the inevitable frogs.

Naturally, I immediately planted the Longwood series of aquatic Canna in the special aquatic pots and settled back to enjoy them. True to their reputation they did not fail me as they are true aquatics, flourishing under 15-20cm (approx 6 inches) of water and they grew and they grew. This was their failing for me, they are far too large for a small garden pond. Their height made the pool, which was my pride and joy, look like a small puddle.

The Longwood aquatic cultivars were bred for the large ornamental ponds and lakes of Longwood garden, not for the typical suburban garden puddle. The series consists of Cannas 'Endeavor', 'Ra', 'Erebus' and 'Taney'. My favourite is probably C. 'Erebus', a fine pink specimen, but the intense yellow of C. 'Ra' (below right) is always eye-catching, and the unusual apricot/salmon orange colour of C. 'Taney' is always interesting and last, but not least, we have C. 'Endeavor' (above right), with its attractive bright red flowers.

However, I digress. We had already recreated the earliest Canna species cross, having crossed C. glauca with C. indica. However, instead of obtaining the 2 metre (6'6") tall C. 'Annei', we had obtained seedlings that grew to under 1 metre (3'3"), but with the same glaucous blue, lance shaped foliage. So we decided to see if we could create a series of aquatic cultivars based on these seedlings which all took after the aquatic C, glauca, and more suitable for the small garden pond than the expansive ponds and lakes of Longwood Gardens.

Eventually we ended up with Canna 'Avon', a pale yellow speckled with cerise, Canna 'Severn', which is a golden yellow with some small red spotting, C. 'Usk', that is a distinctive self-coloured burnt-red, C. 'Wye', which is pink tinged with canary-yellow, and C. 'Teme', the 'white' of the series, but really a pleasant self-coloured ivory. Others are still undergoing evaluation, and we are still trying to create the difficult orange one.

Was it worth while? I think so, they look just right and in balance in our small pool, and we find that the gaucous blue, lance shaped foliage that they all share adds the final touch of elegance.

Over the next weeks we will try and post articles on some of these new cultivars.

Canna 'Mersey'

New introductions

Canna 'Mersey'

A medium sized aquatic cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; light green foliage, lanceolate shaped, upright habit; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured cerise-pink, staminodes are long and narrow, edges irregular, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2007.

The breeding is Canna 'Avon' x C. 'Wye'

Introducing Canna 'Leprechaun'

New introduction

A miniature Foliage Group cultivar; green foliage, lanceolate shaped, white margin, upright habit; spikes of flowers are scarlet and orange-red, staminodes are medium size, edges regular, stamen is scarlet and rose-red, style is scarlet, petals red with farina, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is slow. Introduced by Malcolm Dalebö, Claines Canna Collection, Worcester, England, EU in 2008. The breeding is C. 'Elfin' x C. 'Wye'