Extract from Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society of London, 1908
Cannas for Winter Decoration.
The canna is well known as a summer denizen of our gardens, but it may be somewhat surprising to many to learn that it is equally valuable for room, conservatory, and greenhouse decoration in winter.
Cannas were among the plants tried at Wisley during the summer and autumn of 1907, and as some of the varieties arrived late in the season, and were in comparatively small pots, it was decided to pot these, and some others already in large pots, into pots of larger size and grow trnm on, in a light and only moderately warm greenhouse, where the temperature often dropped to 45° at night. All grew vigorously, and threw up flower spikes almost as freely as in the summer months.
When the pots became full of roots a little chemical manure was given, but really very little aid in this respect was supplied. All the varieties, in over one hundred pots, succeeded equally well, and surprised many by their clean healthy growth and handsome flowers in December and January. As the house was wanted in March for other purposes they were gradually ” rested ” in February and dried off, otherwise they promised to go on growing and flowering indefinitely.
The trial proved very emphatically the use and value of these stately and beautiful plants for winter, and where big, bold plants are required for halls, corridors, and other somewhat draughty places, these will be found more suitable than most, particularly when used in conjunction with palms. The only pest troubling the plants was aphis to a slight extent, but this was easily eradicated by fumigation.
In his 1920’s book, ‘An Indian Garden’, Sydney Percy-Lancaster stated that whilst Canna is treated as a perennial in the Northern climates, in its natural tropical and subtropical climates it is a 52 weeks of the year plant.