Canna 'Mazurka'

Bernard Yorke, of Australia, has confirmed that after contemplating many names for the new Canna cultivar group he has created, he has settled for the name Australian Group.
The members of this new cultivar group are instantly recognisable for their very large foliage, inherited from the Foliage Group that provided the seed parent, and the large flowers, inherited from the Italian Group that provided the pollen. The actual cross was C. 'Red Stripe' x C. 'Bengal Tiger'.


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Canna 'Auguste Ferrier'

A giant Foliage Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, large, oval shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are erect, self-coloured orange-red, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals red, fully self-cleaning, low bloomer; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules round.

Synonym: C. 'Red Stripe'

Australian Group marches on

Bernard Yorke writes from Australia, where the Canna season is in full swing, to show us the F2 generation of the Australian Group cultivars he founded when he first crossed Canna 'Red Stripe' with the Italian Group. The new group has vast potential, as anyone can see from this photograph.

Bernard stated that the foliage, as can be seen from the picture above of an, as yet, unnamed cultivar, has an impressive texture and they are quite large, as well as thick in structure.

My own reaction is to say "Look at the size of the staminodes on that flower! That is almost a Premier Group sized flower."

I fully intend to replicate Bernard's crosses this year, as the mixture of Foliage group leaves with large flowers is very impressive.

Bernard Yorke - Canna Biz

About Canna 'Auguste Ferrier'

A giant Foliage Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, large, oval shaped, maroon margin, upright habit; oval stems, coloured green; flowers are erect, self-coloured orange-red, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, petals red, fully self-cleaning, low bloomer; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules round.

The earliest reference we can find to this one is George Nicholson, The Illustrated Dictionary of Gardening, 1888. We acquired it in 2005, and grew it alongside many of our other Foliage Group cultivars. We quickly moved the pot alongside C. 'Red Stripe' when we realized how alike they were.

Research has shown that there is no satisfactory source of origin for Red Stripe, and in his book The Gardeners Guide to Growing Cannas Ian Cooke wrote, "Red Stripe’ is very similar to C. indica var. purpurea and as it sets seeds readily, it is quite likely to be a variation on it." That speculative statement now seems to be treated as definitive, and it is now being called C. indica purpurea var. Red Stripe.

However, having grown both varieties alongside each other for two years, we are convinced that they are the self-same plant, and we now treat C. 'Red Stripe' as being just a synonym of the much older C. 'Auguste Ferrier'.

Research has discovered more about Canna indica var. purpurea, and that will be discussed in a future blog.

Introducing Canna 'Borneo'

Mr Johnny K. Johnson of Kentucky, USA introduced four new varieties in 2003, the last ones he introduced before retiring from hybridising Cannas after suffering a heart condition. Amongst those introduced was Canna 'Borneo'.

Mr Johnson described it as having "Flowers that are fuchsia with rose spots. Foliage is medium dark with bold stripes which rival canna 'Red Stripe'. Very bold flower and foliage. Excellent! It is fertile both ways and 4' (130cm) tall."

Introducing Canna 'Mazurka'

Developed 2006. Crozy type, height to 110cm. Flower cream to yellow with pink shading from centre,foliage green. Large heads of blooms which appear too heavy for the plant.

Parentage: Orchid(C. indica purpurea var 'Red Stripe' x C. ' Pretoria') x C. 'Cardinal'. The indica parentage has created a sturdy grower.

Introduced by Bernard Yorke, Australia.

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