Description of the canna plant, recommendations for growing in the garden, how to propagate correctly, combating diseases and pests, interesting notes, species and varieties.
Canna is a plant that belongs to the monotypic family with the same name Cannaceae of the order Zingiberales. The stress in the name is placed on the first syllable. The Cannes genus contains about 50 varieties, common in the central and southern regions of the American continent, but today many species are grown in Europe, India and even China. Such plants prefer open sunny locations, but moist and very nutritious soils. In nature, they are mainly found on the banks of streams and rivers, they can grow in mountain gorges or plains, near the seas.
| Family name | Cannes |
| Life cycle | Perennial |
| Growth features | Herbaceous |
| Reproduction | Seeds or parts of rhizomes |
| Landing period in open ground | Second decade of May |
| Disembarkation scheme | Between seedlings or tubers 0.5 m |
| Substrate | Well-drained, nourishing and lightweight |
| Soil acidity, pH | 6, 5-7 (neutral) |
| Illumination | Sunny open place |
| Moisture indicators | Water regularly, but in moderation, abundantly during the flowering period. |
| Special Requirements | Unassuming |
| Plant height | 0.9 to 1.5-3 |
| Color of flowers | White, yellow, orange, rose-fawn or red |
| Type of flowers, inflorescences | Loose racemose inflorescences |
| Flowering time | From early summer to November |
| Decorative time | Spring-autumn |
| Place of application | Formation of borders, in the central part of the flower garden |
| USDA zone | 2–9 |
Based on the translation of the term "canna" from Greek, it means "reed". Apparently, this is due to the fact that if you look at the blossoming flowers of both plants, then their similarity is clearly visible.
All types of cannes are perennials with very branched rhizomes. From them, unbranching thick stems originate, covered with leaf plates growing in two rows. The surface of the stems is smooth, the height can reach 1.5–3 m. If the stems are less than 0.9 m in height, then the plant is considered undersized.
The shape of the leaves is elongated, with a sharpening at the top. Foliage can be green, purple-bronze, bright emerald, bluish green, burgundy, or colored stripes. The length of the leaf blade varies in the range of 25–80 cm with a width of 10–30 cm. There is a waxy bloom on the surface of the leaves.
The flowering of cannes is indeed very mesmerizing with its grandeur and shades. Loose inflorescences in the form of brushes are formed at the tops of the stems. The structure of flowers in them with sharp asymmetry. The opening diameter can vary in the range of 4–9 cm. The petals are painted in bright colors - red, orange, pinkish-fawn and yellow. However, there are several varieties that have snow-white flowers. All flowers are bisexual, three-membered, each has an oval or lanceolate bracts. With its flowering, the plant pleases the eye from the beginning of summer until frost.
After the luxurious cannes flowers have been pollinated, the fruits ripen, represented by boxes with three nests. Such a capsule, when the seed material ripens, opens along the line connecting the backs of the carpels, and is called loculicidal. The entire ripening period takes a period of 30-40 days. The entire surface of the fruit is covered with juicy outgrowths that resemble warts, which dry out and fall off over time. Then the shell of the box becomes thinned and cracked. Such disclosure can be up to half of the fruit or only in its upper third. Cannes seeds are round, black in color. Their diameter is 6–10 mm. Each of the nests contains seeds in two vertical rows.
Since the plant is not only beautiful, but also not particularly difficult to care for, even novice growers like to grow it.
Cannes tips - planting and caring for a flower in the garden
- Landing place. Most of all, these plants love open places where a lot of sunlight will be provided, but partial shade may also be suitable. In the latter case, flowering will not be as abundant. Due to the tall stems, wind protection is recommended. The plant does not like the proximity of groundwater.
- Cannes growing soil should be light, warm, but nutritious. The best soil mixture will be a composition in which leafy soil, peat, river sand and humus are combined.
- Cannes landing The most suitable time for planting plants in open ground is the end of May, when morning frosts will not return. In the hole for warming up, you need to put humus in the first layer, then a soil mixture from the above components (peat, sand, leafy soil). Before planting, it is recommended to prepare the substrate - dig it to the depth of a shovel bayonet, mix it with compost and mineral dressings. For 1 m2, 5 kg of fertilizer and 0.5 liters of charcoal are used. A hole for planting seedlings or a canna cut is dug out at least 50-60 cm. To prevent the rhizomes and tubers from rotting from waterlogging, it is important not to forget to put a drainage layer on the bottom of the hole. Such a layer can be small pebbles, expanded clay, medium-sized parts of crushed bricks. Put 20 cm of fresh manure on top, which will warm the roots and almost 25 cm of the soil mixture. Watering in progress. The deepening of the seedling or tuber will be about 9 cm, while leaving almost half a meter between the cannes, as they will actively grow. After planting, the soil is mulched, with peat or compost, so that moisture does not evaporate so quickly from the surface of the substrate.
- Watering. In order not to provoke decay, the soil should be moderately moistened, therefore watering is carried out sparingly, but regularly. If it does not rain for a long time in summer, it is important to water the plants as soon as the topsoil dries up. Abundant watering will be required only during the flowering period.
- Fertilizers for cannes applied several times during the growing season. You can use a complete complex fertilizer, for example, Kemiru-Universal or Agricola. The drug is chosen in the form of dry granules, which crumble in the near-stem zone of the bush. After that, watering should be performed. About 50 g of the preparation is scattered on each m2. Cannes plantings respond well to organics. This can be chicken manure diluted 1:10 in water or cow dung. It is recommended to pour 0.5 liters of solution under each bush. Foliar fertilization can also be carried out, since the surface of the leaf plates is quite large. For this, special preparations are used (for example, "Mister Color"), following the manufacturer's instructions.
- General advice on care. It is important after each rain or watering to loosen the soil and weed from weeds. If the cannes bushes do not bloom for a long time, then there has been a strong drying out of the soil and it should be watered quickly. However, it is important to remember that when the substrate is flooded, the buds begin to rot. It is recommended to delete them immediately. This is because the flowers in the inflorescence bloom in waves, from bottom to top. Therefore, when the buds bloom at the top of the inflorescence, the lower flowers will dry out and need to be cut off periodically. When the flowering is over, it is necessary to carry out a high hilling of the bushes before frost - this will serve to protect the root necks so that they do not freeze. Abundant watering during this period is not applied, and soil moistening is gradually stopped. After the first freezing, it is recommended to cut off the entire green part, leaving only 10-15 cm from the soil, and dig out the cannes themselves. To prevent rotting tubers, you need to dig only in dry weather.
- Cannes tubers storage. Since winters in central Russia will be disastrous for Cannes, it is recommended to dig up tubers with the arrival of autumn. All the green part is cut off, and the tubers themselves are cleaned of dried parts and soil residues. Then you should put them in a dry place to dry. After the cannes tubers are dry, they are transferred to a cool place, placed in boxes with dry sand or sawdust until spring. Until it is time to plant, it is recommended that you check the tubers monthly. If darkened spots are noticed, then such parts are cut out to healthy tissue and sprinkled with crushed charcoal. Instead, you can use crushed pharmacy activated carbon or iodine. Occasionally, cannes are left in the garden, while digging grooves. Rhizomes with cut stems are placed in such grooves in 1-3 rows and carefully sprinkled with soil. Dry foliage or straw is poured between the rows. From above, you will need to organize a shelter of dry leaves, on top of which soil is again poured and wooden shields are laid.
How to properly propagate cannes outdoors?
To get a plant with decorative flowering, it is recommended to sow seeds and plant parts of overgrown rhizomes.
- Seed propagation cann. With this method, varietal characteristics may not be preserved in perennials. In our latitudes, many plants may not produce seed at all. But there are florists who are engaged in breeding work. Since the seeds have a hard shell, scarification is required. In this operation, it is necessary to break the shell in order to facilitate the germination of the sprout. You can pour boiling water over the cann seed material, and then put it in a thermos, where warm water is poured. In this state, the seeds should spend up to 4 hours. Some growers put the seeds in damp gauze and place them on a hot battery, keeping there for up to 12 hours. This will help the seeds to swell. There is another method for scarification - after treatment with boiling water, the seeds are placed for a couple of hours on the lower shelf of the refrigerator. After that, the seed must be kept in any growth stimulator for a day. This can be the drug Epin, Kornevin, or heteroauxinic acid. After treatment with any of the methods, the seeds are sown in peat-sandy soil at the end of winter. Pots or seedling boxes are placed in partial shade at a temperature of 22-23 degrees. You can cover containers with crops with plastic wrap, which will be the key to high humidity. When caring for crops, it is necessary to spray the drying soil and ventilate them every day. A month later, you can see the first shoots, then the shelter is removed. When two pairs of leaf plates open on the seedlings, a dive is performed in separate pots with the same soil. The temperature during subsequent cultivation is reduced to 6 degrees Celsius. When time permits, they are transplanted into open ground.
- Cannes propagation by dividing the rhizome. When using this method, all the characteristics of the variety will be preserved. The best time for this is the beginning of spring (March-April). The roots must be cleaned of soil, remove all dried and rotten parts and divide the rhizome with a sharp knife. Each of the divisions should contain growth buds, but if such buds are located very close, then it is not worth sharing, since the cannes divisions will not take root. Sections are immediately processed with charcoal powder or potassium permanganate solution (0.2 g of the drug is diluted in 1 liter). Rhizomes can be stored in sawdust until planting or planted in pots filled with a peat-sand mixture. The latter will make it possible to get early flowering. The planting is not carried out deeply, part of the canna root is completely covered with the substrate. Often, the cuttings are laid horizontally so that the root processes form faster. The temperature at which rooting takes place is 20-24 degrees. Seedlings are irrigated every 10 days. When a pair of sheet plates are formed on the divide, the temperature is reduced to 16 degrees. The place where the seedlings will be grown should be well lit. In order for the delenki to take root better, once every 10 days, you can water them with a very weak solution of potassium permanganate or a root formation stimulator. After the spring frosts have passed, the seedlings are transplanted into the garden.
Controlling diseases and pests when growing cannes in the garden
If the rules of agricultural technology are violated, then these beautiful plants begin to be affected by diseases and pests.
Among the diseases, both fungal and viral are distinguished. Diseases of fungal origin that can be cured are:
- Gray rot appearing when the temperature drops and high humidity. Leaves and stems are covered with brown spots. On such a spot, over time, gray spores and mycelium are formed, which are transferred to healthy plants. To prevent infection, watering is carried out at the root, the plants are not planted too close, in order to avoid thickening, weeds are weeded and fed. It is important to remember that an increased dose of nitrogen in the feed makes the cannes more susceptible to disease.
- Rustcaused by high soil and air humidity. From the very beginning of the disease, the foliage is covered with specks of a brown hue, after which the foliage dries and falls off. To prevent fungal diseases, treatment with fungicidal preparations, for example, Fundazol, is used.
If cannes get sick with viral diseases, many of them cannot be cured and it is recommended to destroy the affected plants, and dig up the soil deeply and water with a strong solution of potassium permanganate. Among viral diseases, there are:
- Variegation, manifested by specks and strokes on the foliage. Usually, growth with this disease is not disturbed, but when it is in full swing, the flowers of the cannes become smaller and the buds curl. Damaged flowers and buds are removed.
- Cucumber mosaic, in which a thread-like pattern appears on the leaf plates. Since the foliage releases a substance that attracts aphids, the pest spreads the virus. Plants infected with the virus must be removed and burned. To prevent disease, you need to regularly weed and wash the leaf plates with water.
Insects that are problematic in outdoor cultivation of cannes are scale insects, aphids, slugs and nematodes. It is recommended, if signs of a pest are found, to treat with insecticidal or acaricidal agents (such as Aktara, Aktellik or Fitoverm).
Interesting notes about Cannes
Even in antiquity, Cannes are known among the American Indian settlements for their starch-filled rhizomes. It is customary to use them for food, baking over a fire. Some varieties may contain up to 27% starch in their roots, which is well known as Queensland arrowroot due to its granular structure.
Since the stems and leaf blades are thick and fleshy, they are often used as livestock feed. Cannes are cultivated for such purposes not only in America, but also in the Hawaiian Islands, Indian lands and in Indonesia, and Australian flower growers have also paid attention to cannes.
It is curious that when planting in open ground, cannes bushes can be used as a hygrometer, since the plant has the property of gutting. During this process, in the morning chals, large drops of moisture can be seen on the leaf plates. This indicates that the air humidity is high and in the near future (in the afternoon, in the evening or at night) it will rain.
Types and varieties of cannes for the garden
Indian Canna (Canna indica)
It is this variety that is basic for already existing species and varieties. Those varieties that are used for growing in gardens are called garden cannes (Canna x generalis Bailey). But in floriculture, the division of hybrid forms into the following is accepted:
Canna garden (Canna x generalis Bailey)
is a generic name for a large number of hybrid garden representatives of the genus. Their number today exceeds 1000 varieties, which differ from each other in stem height, flowering periods, colors of leaf plates and petals in flowers, and overall sizes.
Canna Crozie
often referred to French canna or French rose … This species is undersized, since its stems are in the range of 60–160 cm in height. The flowers, blooming, are very reminiscent of the outlines of gladioli. In this case, the petals in the flowers tend to bend back. A whitish waxy bloom is present on the leaf blades, although the color of the foliage can be either dark green or purple-bronze. The plant bears its name thanks to the creator of the first hybrid, a breeder from France - Crozi. The time of creation of this hybrid falls on 1868.
The most popular are the following varieties of cannes:
- Livadia, whose stems reach a meter in height. The inflorescences measure 25-30 cm long and are composed of flowers with red-crimson petals. The leaf plates have a purple hue. The flowering process begins in the middle of summer.
- America (America). Stems vary in height within 1, 2–1, 4 m. The foliage has a purple tint. The flowering process begins in July, the inflorescences made up of cinnabar-red flowers reach 30–35 cm. When fully opened, the flower measures 12 cm in diameter.
- President. The stems of this variety do not exceed 1 m in height. The leafy plates are green. The length of the inflorescence does not exceed 0.3 m, it includes flowers with bright red petals. Flowers bloom from the beginning of July.
Canna Orchid (Canna Orchid)
The shape and shape of the flowers of this variety are reminiscent of the Cattleya, which is the "queen of orchids". The stems of the plant can be measured in the range of 1–2 m. During flowering, flowers are collected in the inflorescences with petals with a corrugated edge. When opening, the diameter of the flower is 12, 5-17, 5 cm. The color of the leaf plates can be either green or have a greenish-purple hue. The most popular varietal forms are:
- Andenken an Pfitzer the height of the stems reaches 1, 1–1, 4 m. The length of the inflorescences is 30 cm. The flowers have a bright orange color, while the petals have a pattern of red strokes. The leaf plates are brownish-purple in color. The flowering process begins in July.
- Suevia does not exceed one meter in stems, flower petals are delicate lemon color. The size of the inflorescence is expressed in parameters 12x15 cm. The leaves of this variety are rich in green color. Flowering begins at the end of the first summer month.
- Richard Wallace. The stems can grow up to a meter in height. The length of the inflorescences is in the range of 20-23 cm. It consists of flowers with pale yellow petals, which have a pattern of red specks. The leaf plates are green. The variety begins to bloom in July.
Canna deciduous
may occur under the name Canna small-flowered. Plants of this species have stems reaching 3 m in height. The leaf plates are highly decorative. The foliage color can take on green, greenish-purple or purple hues. During flowering, corollas of rather small flowers open, the diameter of which will not exceed 6 cm. In culture, because of this, they are grown very rarely. The most famous is the varietal form Durban, with flowers with yellowish-orange petals. The leaf plates are very beautiful, as they have a striped pattern of pink, bronze and yellow tones.
Hanging canna (Canna flaccida Salisb)
Perennial with evergreen foliage, the height of the stems is almost 2 meters. The leaf plates have an oblong-lanceolate shape with a pointed apex. The length of the leaf is 20–60 cm with a width of about 10–13 cm. The inflorescence of the species is racemose, loose, with few flowers. The color of the petals is yellowish-sulfur. When opened, the flower reaches 8 cm in diameter.
Video about growing cannes in the garden:
