Canna 'Bavaria'

A medium sized aquatic Italian Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, oval shaped, spreading habit; flowers are open, yellow with red blotches, throat red, staminodes are large, average bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin. 

Introduced by C. Sprenger, Dammann & Co., Naples, Italy, EU in 1897. In "Notes on the Orchid-flowering Cannas". Garden & Forest of 29th September 1897, Prof. F. A. Waugh declared that "Italia is a beautiful Canna, to be sure, perhaps the best one of this class yet introduced, but Burgundia and Bavaria are so much like it that a careless observer would pass them by as all of the same kind. Both new varieties are, however, of smaller stature than Italia and have smaller foliage. The flowers in all three are of a brilliant canary-yellow upon which two shades of rich apricot red are successively overlaid. In Italia the red colors are run together in the throat to make somewhat regular solid blotches bordered with very deep bands of the clear yellow, like an exaggerated Queen Charlotte. In Bavaria there is very little of the darker red shade, while the lighter red is scattered in small dots well out upon the petal-like staminodia." 

Synonym: C. 'Sunburst'

Revisiting Canna 'Bavaria'

A medium sized aquatic Italian Group cultivar, equally at home as a water marginal or in the border; green foliage, oval shaped, spreading habit; flowers are open, yellow with red blotches, throat red, staminodes are large, average bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin.

Introduced by C. Sprenger, Dammann & Co., Naples, Italy, EU in 1897.

In "Notes on the Orchid-flowering Cannas". Garden & Forest of 29th September 1897, Prof. F. A. Waugh declared that "Italia is a beautiful Canna, to be sure, perhaps the best one of this class yet introduced, but Burgundia and Bavaria are so much like it that a careless observer would pass them by as all of the same kind. Both new varieties are, however, of smaller stature than Italia and have smaller foliage. The flowers in all three are of a brilliant canary-yellow upon which two shades of rich apricot red are successively overlaid. In Italia the red colors are run together in the throat to make somewhat regular solid blotches bordered with very deep bands of the clear yellow, like an exaggerated Queen Charlotte. In Bavaria there is very little of the darker red shade, while the lighter red is scattered in small dots well out upon the petal-like staminodia."

Synonym: C. 'Sunburst'

Pandora's box of tricks, 1897

Garden and forest. / Volume 10, Issue 512. [December 15, 1897, 489-498]

More Orchid-flowering Cannas.

PANDORA is another of the Orchid-flowering Cannas from the list of Dammann & Co. We have the variety from the originators, and have been enjoying its blossoms in the greenhouse since September. The plant is dwarf, growing about three feet high. But these are young plants closely potted in the house, so that we may expect a larger growth of strong plants out-of-doors. The foliage is very dark red, splashed with lighter greenish red. The flowers most closely resemble those of America, described in GARDEN AND FOREST, vol. x., p. I78, with the attractive, full-rounded form of those of Italia, with reflexed petals (not staminodia). The petal-like staminodia are bright, fiery cherry-red, heavily splashed and overlaid with a darker velvety red, giving a peculiarly rich appearance. Pandora and America please us the best of all the Italian or Orchid-flowering sorts.



The varieties Bavaria and Burgundia (Dammann) have also been in blossom with us since September 13th. These are both of comparatively dwarf habit, the foliage being smaller and narrower than in the better-known Italia, Austria and Burbank. They both give blossoms of the Italia type, it being frequently difficult or entirely impossible to separate the three, Bavaria, Burgundia and Italia, by the blossoms alone. Bavaria tends to have more solid red at the centre, so that it becomes rather a yellow-bordered flower, of somewhat the same marking as Queen Charlotte; Burgundia is more spotted and looks a trifle more like Florence Vaughan; Bavaria usually has upright petals, while Burgundia commonly shows its Canna flaccida parentage in reflexed petals. We had Italia and Austria in large beds on the open lawn throughout the summer, where they gave moderate satisfaction. Their large growth and heavy luxuriant leaves give a fresh, semitropical foliage effect worth consideration; but the blossoms are not, upon outdoor plants, an item of much importance.

University of Vermont. Professor F. A. Waugh.

New Italian cultivars

An article by Professor F. A. Waugh, University of Vermont, taken from the Garden and Forest Journal [Volume 10, Issue 501. [September 29, 1897, 379-388]

Notes on the Orchid-flowering Cannas.

WE have been greatly interested in the new Orchid-flowering Cannas since their first announcement, and have taken some pains to grow most of the varieties offered for sale. A note regarding the variety America was sent to GARDEN AND FOREST some weeks ago (see vol. x., page I78), and a completer account has been more recently published in the Tenth Annual Report of the Vermont Experiment Station, page 119. Since that report went to press we have brought two new varieties of these Cannas into blossom. These are Bavaria and Burgundia, both from the lists of Dammann & Co., the originators of Italia, Austria and America. We are somewhat disappointed in these two newest varieties, not because of bad qualities, but on account of their close resemblance to Italia. Italia is a beautiful Canna, to be sure, perhaps the best one of this class yet introduced, but Burgundia and Bavaria are so much like it that a careless observer would pass them by as all of the same kind.

Both varieties are, however, of smaller stature than Italia and have smaller foliage. The flowers in all three are of a brilliant canary-yellow upon which two shades of rich apricot-red are successively overlaid. In Italia the red colors are run together in the throat to make somewhat regular solid blotches bordered with very deep bands of the clear yellow, like an exaggerated Queen Charlotte. In Bavaria there is very little of the darker red shade, while the lighter red is scattered in small dots well out upon the petal-like staminodia, giving an effect more like that of Florence Vaughan. Burgundia is almost a medium between Bavaria and Italia, with more of the dark overlying red than the former, and more of the leopard spottings than in the latter. Burbank, the only variety of American origin yet advertised, does not seem to have been noted so much in the horticultural press as its good qualities deserve. It is the equal of the Italian varieties. The flowers have the form of Italia and nearly the coloring of Austria. That is to say their form is the best, and their coloring pure canary yellow with a few faint reddish spots in the throat.

These new Cannas, hybrids of Madame Crozy with C. flaccida, are especially admirable for two qualities, namely, the perfection of form and the richness of color in their blossoms. The type of Canna-flower which we are used to seeing among the French dwarfs, when taken by itself, is singularly inharmonious and unsatisfying in its outlines, but there is a fullness of form and grace of outline among the Orchid-flowering sorts which by comparison is altogether pleasing. Their richness of coloring is remarkable. The comparative size of the flowers has been considerably overstated in the advertisements. They are quite large enough, to be sure, but they are only a little larger in fact than Charles Henderson, Alphonse Bouvier, or dozens of other old and well-known varieties. Several of these varieties we have had this year in quantities sufficient for liberal use in outdoor beds. Their large, luxuriant, Musa-like foliage is quite effective, but there is a noticeable paucity of flowers in comparison with the older French dwarf sorts. The softness and flaccidity of the blossoms detract somewhat, of course, from their usefulness out-of-doors, but not so seriously as we had expected. The flower-spikes, though comparatively few in number, are fairly durable and effective as far as they go.

The Orchid-flowering Cannas-and, by the way, they ought to have a better class name-are certainly attractive novelties for the amateur, but in their present state they are not likely to find great favor among professional gardeners, who are interested chiefly in gaudy red and yellow floral effects.
University of Vermont. F. A. Waugh.

Canna ahead of its time.

Ahead of its time, we have our first flower for 2007 from a seedling of ours, numbered CC192. I know that others in warmer climates will have experienced new flowers earlier, but we are located up in the English midlands, near the northen limits of Cannas growing range.

The cup shaped flower is a delicate pastel yellow with rays of light orange emulating from the throat. The first spike contains about 20 buds, so it looks like it will be a strong bloomer. The green foliage is ovoid and thick; one for lasting through droughts and hail-storms, like we had only 9 days ago.

We have several hundred other numbered seedlings to trial this year, and because of the risk of virus, we are now growing the collection elsewhere, and using the house garden as the nursery for new seedlings and those that make it through to being numbered.

Normally, only a handful of new seedlings will make it through to being named and registered, but they all need to be carefully monitored, and regularly checked, so that nothing is missed. CC192 looks like a winner, but we have to watch out for things like self-cleaning, good leaf unfurling, and how many spikes each stem produces... then how many stems it produces.

Meanwhile, the collection is growing in size again, after the virus culling of the last two years. Already, Canna 'Viva' is in full flower, and in the next few days we will see flowers from C. 'Orange Punch' and C. 'Bavaria'. This early flowering is lifting our spirits after the poor start to the year. I am starting to look forward to going outside at 6am with a cup of coffee and cotton buds, ready to start pollinating again. So, the annual cycle continues...