Canna Lillys & Crinums
Canna Lilly's
Canna Lilly’s are another rewarding plant type that are also relatively low maintenance. The biggest issue faced has been during the wet season when a lot of the rhizomes rotted due to the placement in the garden not being raised enough to allow the water to drain away adequately. So there is a cycle where they look really good and then really bad.
Some insects like to eat them, but other than that the 2nd biggest problem has been “Rust” on the leaves and have started spraying for that. The flower heads had been large enough on some plants to require the plant to be supported.
I know for certain the botanical names of some of the of the plants, however some other are to be confirmed as they did not have the same level of plant provenance.
Canna America
Smoky green leaves with thick bronze red edges and deep red flowers. Only have one large group of these, but the plant seems happy in this location. So happy that I move one plant of each other kind of canna that I have to similar positions with their own raised beds. Plant height about 1.8 meters with sterile flowers.
Canna Australia
Very dark burgundy bronze leaves almost black, this canna is hardy and has attractive deep red flowers with flecks of orange on the throat.
I have this plant growing amongst one of the Heliconia’s where it does ok, but moved some of it to a dedicated space. This is an example of under estimating the space needed between plants and the Heliconia overpowering the canna.
Plant height about 1.5 meters with sterile flowers.
Canna Sunburst
Short growth canna variety with red gold bi-coloured variegated leaves and a pink flower. This has struggled a bit, not sure why, but think the tropical heat is just too much for it or the rainny season is too much for it, either way this plant is not meeting expectations. This is the same for Canna Tropicanna var Phasion , it too is suffering. Sterile flowers.
Canna Tropicanna var Phasion
Canna Tropicanna var Phasion is like a taller version of Sunburst, with its red variegated gold leaves standing out. Is supposed to grow to a height of 1.8m, but mine seem to be stuck at the miniature stage and have yet to determine the problem. Sterile flowers. A year after planting, it is difficult to find it, so think in a couple of months, this variety will disappear.
Canna Durban
In an attempt to make up for the expected demise of Canna Tropicanna var Phasion and Sun Burst, I am trying Canna Durban and so far the signs are good that this variety will be more successful.
Canna Cleopatra. to be confirmed
This variety is chimera [two gene sets in one plant], so has leaves that are of mixed colours with red or green strips of colour that weave through the plants stems and across the leaves. The picture shows one plant with one stem primarily green with red streaks and the other stem primarily red with green streaks.
Even the flowers have red parts amongst the yellow or vice versa. Each flower has a different amount of red. Canna Cleopatra is said to be an unstable variety which can revert back to one gene set. Since I only have two plant,s it will be interesting to see what happens.
Canna Tropicanna Gold. to be confirmed
Canna Tropicanna Gold, really nice variegated yellow green leaves with a flower that is orange with bits of yellow or sometimes all orange.
Quite a tough plant, but lost all but two plants to rotting during the extended wet season of 2016 that was just too much for them, but the plants bounced back in 2017 with enough vigor that they could be divided. In 2018 almost lost all the plants, the hot wet season has caused the plants to rot away very quickly. This plant grows to about 1.5 meters tall and said to look like Canna ‘Bengal Tiger’, but the flower head stalk is not reddish as found in Bengal Tiger.
Canna Indica. to be confirmed
Canna Indica is almost a weed, really hardy. This must be a cultivator as it usually has all green leaves, but this variety has green leaves with red tinged edges, slightly red ribs on leaves will disappear as they mature, but the red stems do not, which makes an attractive addition for those spots where things are hard to grow.
The flower is a bit underwhelming compared to the others, but the red stems make up for it. This plant grows to a height of about 1.8 meters and also grows well from seeds. Even the red seed pod is interesting.
Unknown yellow aquatic Canna, I grew this from seed and was expecting an pink / orange flower like the parent plant in the picture, but mine appeared with yellow flowers. I like the silvery green leaves and it seems to be hardy. My other canna varieties have been struck down over the we season and haven't really recovered.
In the picture below there is Canna Australia, America and Gold in flower and at the back Inca as well. Eventually the intention is to join the individual plant beds together, but have not been able to get garden top soil in more than six months, so plans have been delayed. In the May heat, the plants grow really quickly and need daily watering.
Crinum's
I am always on the lookout for these plants, they are quite easy to grow and tolerant of a bit of neglect. My only issues have been caterpillar infestations that when out of hand can decimate a plant in a day; but other than that I have had no other problems.
The colours range from golden yellow, variegated green, green to almost black of the Crinum Menehune shown above, whose colour varies depending on the amount of sun it gets.
Each variety I have also produce flowers, with some producing viable large bulbils / seeds.
The other thing is that some can get surprisingly tall, some are already 1.5 meters tall, some have scented flowers [Crinum asiaticum] and others like the Menehune tolerate "wet feet" boggy locations very well.
The common name for the golden yellow leaved crinum shown two pictures up on the right and in flower in the center picture above is "yellow pandan" which gets a bit confusing as the common name for the yellow leafed with green borders plant shown in the picture on the right is "golden pandan" [Pandaus Baptistii probably], with Canna Australia behind it.
Using common names can result in confusion if buying or getting tasks done remotely. However just to make things interesting, I saw the same plant with a different botanical name at the Singapore Botanical Gardens 2017, and for certain I hope it does not live up to it being called "Big Damn Screw Pine". Then in March 2018 on a visit to the Singapore Botanical Gardens, another sign, this time the plant is called Pandanus Amaryllifolius Variegata
Pandaus Baptistii or Pandanus Tectorius Vietchi or Pandanus Amaryllifolius Variegata, it is a carefree plant that is worthwhile getting and unlike other screw pines it does not have hard jagged edged leaves that inflict cuts, the leaves are in fact rather soft and smooth, like flax leaves.
If it is a large growing plant, then I will need to move some as I have them in the wrong spots in the garden.