Canna 'Tropical Fantasy'

A medium Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage; flowers are open, red, self-cleaning, good bloomer. Introduced by Brian Williams of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Canna 'Spiderman'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that, "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them for sale. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Spiderman'.

Mr Williams confided that, "This has a unique look to it, growing 9ft (2.9m) tall with bright small red flowers and bluish green leaves, each with a distinctive red border. Easy to grow, and lots of flowers and seeds. "

Canna 'Romance'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridiser from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Romance'.

Brian described the new culivar as being "A dwarf to 4 feet tall with dark purple foliage. The flowers have a mixture of colours from orange to pink that change with age. It is self cleaning and is a great bloomer. "

Canna 'Momma Wanda'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridizer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Momma Wanda'.

Brian confided that "This canna was named after my mother, Wanda. The flowers look much different than most cannas. The flowers have round shaped petals with an orange-pink flower, set of by an exotic, speckled, yellow center."
My own comment is that this is a perplexing cultivar; it has the large, pronounced male stamen of the Italian Group, but the lip is smaller than the staminodes, just like a Crozy Group cultivar. Italso complies with the requirements of the Premier Group, having a full, circular flower without gaps between staminodes. My own guess would be that this is a triploid, and is infertile.

Canna 'Kentucky Copperhead'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of them are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Kentucky Copperhead'. Mr Williams described it as being "A tall grower to about 8 ft with very large dark maroon leaves. The flowers are small but flowers in clusters. The flowers range from pink to peach and orange."

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Canna 'Katana'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Katana'.

Mr Williams stated, "This canna grows to about 7ft tall with dark purple to maroon leaves. The flowers are a peach color with yellow streaking. It is self cleaning and produces tons of flowers. "


Brian Williams - Brian's Botanicals

Canna 'Flamingo Flight'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Flamingo Flight'.

Mr Williams went on to describe this cultivar as, "A taller growing canna, up to about 8 feet tall. Great for in the background, this canna produces tons of bright pink, with white streaks, flowers above its bright green foliage."

Canna 'Candy Shadow'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; dark foliage; flowers are open, pink staminodes have attractive red markings, self-cleaning, good bloomer. Introduced by Brian Wiliams of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Brian Williams excellent year

Mr Brian Williams reports that he has had an excellent year in creating new seed crosses, and has spent more time breeding Cannas in 2008 than all previous years combined!

Brian also attempted some far fetched hybrid crosses and was fortunate enough to get a small number of seeds from some unlikely, but very interesting parents.

Canna 'Wyoming' is an Italian group cultivar and is considered to be seed sterile, yet Brian produced 4 seeds from it and all of them were solid and had a good weight to them. In previous years Brian has produced seeds, but they had no embryos.

The four seeds were despatched to a friend who is germinating them in a TC laboratory, but, as yet, there is no word on how they are progressing.

Canna 'Bengal Tiger' is another Italian Group cultivar that is considered to be seed sterile, yet Brian was also able to produce 4 seeds. One seed did not fully mature due to the cold snap at the end of the season. The other 3 seeds looked very healthy and last week Brian scarified the surface of the seeds and planted them in trays. One has already germinated, but has not yet produced a full leaf. It will be interesting to see how that progresses, and the first question is whether the seedlings will inherit the variegated foliage of the seed parent.

Canna 'Pink Sunburst', aka 'Pringle Bay' has also produced around 15 seeds, which have all been planted. We have ourselves grown seedlings in the past from this cultivar, but they have all had a poor pink flower and mundane green foliage; however Brian has a habit of producing surprises so we will watch with great interest.

Brian has promised to publish some photographs as these seedlings grow-on, and we will watch out for them with interest.

Brian's Botanicals

Introducing Canna 'Tropical Fantasy'

A medium Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage; flowers are open, red, self-cleaning, good bloomer. Introduced and submitted for trial by Brian Williams of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Introducing Canna 'Candy Shadow'

A medium sized Premier Group cultivar; dark foliage; flowers are open, pink staminodes have attractive red markings, self-cleaning, good bloomer. Introduced and submitted for 2008 International Canna Trial by Brian Wiliams of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

Canna 'Momma Wanda'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridizer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Momma Wanda'.

Brian confided that "This canna was named after my mother, Wanda. The flowers look much different than most cannas. The flowers have round shaped petals with an orange-pink flower, set of by an exotic, speckled, yellow center."

Canna 'Illicit Dreams'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridizer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Illicit Dreams'.

Brian said that, "Canna 'Illicit Dreams' has nice dark green foliage with very odd flowers. In most cases the flowers yellow coloring is predominent, but on occasions the pink or orange predominates. Occasionally there are very different flowers all on the same plant. Usually it has a yellow flower with a white and pink center and orange streaking. It flowers a lot, grows to 5 ft tall and is self-cleaning."

Introducing Canna 'Lau'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridiser from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Lau'.

Brian described it as being, "A tall narrow grower with multicolored leaves growing to 6ft or more with orangish pink flowers. Grown mainly for foliage the leaves have a purple to bright pink variegated coloration. It reminds me a lot of a Hawaiian Ti plant "

Canna 'Kentucky Copperhead'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Kentucky Copperhead'.

Mr Williams described it as being "A tall grower to about 8 ft with very large dark maroon leaves. The flowers are small but flowers in clusters. The flowers range from pink to peach and orange."

Introducing Canna 'Flamingo Flight'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Flamingo Flight'.

Mr Williams went on to describe this cultivar as, "A taller growing canna, up to about 8 feet tall. Great for in the background, this canna produces tons of bright pink, with white streaks, flowers above its bright green foliage."

Introducing Canna 'Forbidden Love'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridiser from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Forbidden Love'.

Brian confirmed that "This is a great bloomer, which grows to 5ft tall with large colorful blooms. The flowers are orange with streaks of pink and white, with some yellowing as well."

Introducing Canna 'Katana'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Katana'.

Mr Williams stated, "This canna grows to about 7ft tall with dark purple to maroon leaves. The flowers are a peach color with yellow streaking. It is self cleaning and produces tons of flowers. "

Introducing Canna 'Spiderman'

When discussing his architectural specimens, the American Canna hybridist Brian Williams confided that, "These are not the regular cannas most people look for but I find them useful and thought I would offer them in the spring. I use these varieties as a back drop for my other cannas. Tall growing with flowers held high above the foliage, they all of these are 7ft tall and up." Amongst these cultivars he includes Canna 'Spiderman'.

Mr Williams confided that, "This has a unique look to it, growing 9ft (2.9m) tall with bright small red flowers and bluish green leaves, each with a distinctive red border. Easy to grow, and lots of flowers and seeds. "

Introducing Canna 'Romance'

Released in 2005 by Mr Brian Williams, the well known Canna hybridiser from Louisville, Kentucky, USA, was Canna 'Romance'.

Brian described the new culivar as being "A dwarf to 4 feet tall with dark purple foliage. The flowers have a mixture of colors from orange to pink that change with age. It is self cleaning and is a great bloomer. "