Canna 'American Flag'

A tall Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; oval stems, coloured purple; panicles of flowers are open, self-coloured orange-red, throat yellow, staminodes are large, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white and pink; tillering is average. 

Introduced by Antoine Wintzer of The Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, PA, USA in 1902.

Canna 'Shenandoah'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; bronze foliage, lanceolate shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; triangular stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are open, self-coloured salmon, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, petals purple with farina, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured pink and purple; tillering is average.

Introduced by Antoine Wintzer of The Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, PA, USA in 1894. In the Royal Horticultural Society, England Canna Trial 2002, it was granted the ultimate plant recognition of the Award of garden Merit (AGM).

Revisiting Canna 'City of Portland'

A medium sized Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, spreading habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are open, jasper-red (a pink) (RHS 39A) with a narrow yellow (RHS 7A) margin, staminodes are medium size, edges frilled, stamen is gold marked, petals red, 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 and pink; tillering is average.

Introduced by Antoine Wintzer of The Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, PA, USA, now the Conard-Pyle Co.

Canna 'President' origins established

In an effort to clear any past misconception about the origin of the above cultivar, Kent Kelly has located a brief advertisement from the Conard & Jones Co. stating that "A. Wintzer originated this cultivar and C. & J. introduced it."

"This publication is dated a least a few years after information was published by other companies offering it for sale but not claiming to be the introducer."

"Assuming C. & Jones did indeed introduce ‘The President’ there likely is no correlation between the cultivar ‘Queen of Beauty’ and ‘The President’."

"This C & J information was published in “Gardeners Chronicle of America” in 1922-23."

Thanks are due to Kent for his detective work, but I think that he is being too conservative when he uses the term "assuming" to qualify the Conard & Jones claim. I have been studying their literature for over a decade and I have never encountered a blatant untruth, sometime a little exaggeration over plant qualities, but never a lie. I am happy to believe totally that Canna 'President' was raised by Antoine Wintzer, and introduced by C & J.

What now remains is to establish which is the real Canna 'President'. I have so far encountered four different plants using that name, and over the next few days I will post details and photographs of each one.

The National Bedding Plant of the USA

The 1915 Catalogue of the Conard & Jones Co, USA, proudly exclaimed that Canna was the National Plant of the USA. Now bear in mind that Conard & Jones were the world's largest rose growers and were later responsible for introducing Rosa 'Peace' after World War 2, and yet here they were proclaiming the Canna as the USA's National Bedding Plant! Antoine (Leon) Wintzer was responsible for introducing the companies new varieties.

Although the image above is difficult to read, the various text boxes are shown below.

"This series of large Canna beds bespeaks more clearly than words the high favor in which our Cannas are held by the Department of Agriculture and those in charge of beautifying the public gardens of our Nation's Capital."

So, there we have it! At one point in history the Canna was seriously considered to be the National Plant of the USA and Leon Wintzer, who introduced so many of the Cannas mentioned, was considered to be the leading breeder of his day.

Revisiting Canna 'Fairy Queen'

A small Crozy Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, branching habit; panicles of flowers are open, red with a wide gold margin, staminodes are medium size, edges irregular, fully self-cleaning; 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 average.

Introduced by Antoine Wintzer of The Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, PA, USA in 1899.