Canna 'Champion'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, oval-acuminate shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are open, salmon and rose-red, throat gold markings, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, labellum is gold, 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 and pink; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Ernest Turc, Angers, France, EU.

There is a previous cultivar with this name, it is a medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are yellow with red blotches; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink. It featured in the 1908 RHS outdoor trials at Wisley. Also, listed in the Standardized Plant Names, 1942, and is still being grown in France, EU., so once again we have Canna naming confusion.

Seed at last

Here we are on the last day of the summer, and we have just collected out first Canna seed! Normally, by now we would have a tall pile of seed envelopes, but so far only C. 'Gaeity' and C. 'Champion' have given us seed. Just two seeds from Gaeity and then three seeds from Champion.

Then I went and dropped one of the Champion seeds! In desperation I crawled around on my hands and knees, but to no avail. I had no option but to accept that I had just lost 20% of this seasons seed harvest! And that from a collection of over 200 plants!

There will be some more seeds shortly, but we have now arrived at the time of year where there is not enough time left for new flowers to create and mature further seed, so what we see maturing on the plants is all we can expect this year.

The degree to which the rains had affected us can be realized when seven days after the last heavy rain I walked on a grass path that was still springy to the step. The ground had become totally saturated and could not hold any more water at all.


The months of rain also meant that all of the fertilizers we spread and dug in during spring and planting-out time have been leached away, so on Saturday I applied a liquid feed and we are just hoping for some decent growth and flowers in the next few weeks. However, the temperature overnight dropped to 6 degrees Centigrade, and that will start inhibiting further free growth.

So, a liquid feed weekly and keeping the plants well-groomed, that's all we have to look forward to for the last part of the season, oh, and a few more seeds!

Revisiting Canna 'Champion'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, oval-acuminate shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are open, salmon and rose-red, throat gold markings, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, labellum is gold, 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 and pink; tillering is prolific. Introduced by Ernest Turc, Angers, France, EU.

There is a previous cultivar with this name, it is a medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are yellow with red blotches; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink. It featured in the 1908 RHS outdoor trials at Wisley. Also, listed in the Standardized Plant Names, 1942, and is still being grown in France, EU.