After nearly thirty years of growing canna I am still surprised by them… unexpected colours, oddly shaped flowers, but today I had another surprise. My Canna iridiflora growing in our hallway is a weather diviner!
I looked closely at something shining on a large leaf, and saw that it was a small pool of water. Nobody had been near it with any water, so how did it get there? Musing that riddle, I glanced at the barometer and saw that the air pressure was falling fast, and another rain storm was on its way. Then it dawned on me, the air pressure change was forcing moisture out of the canna leaf! The large green sails we call canna leafs, store a lot of moisture and so it is logical that this phenomenon would happen, but it still came as a surprise.
I did some investigating, and do you notice a change in the way you feel when the weather shifts? If so, you’re not alone, nor are you imagining it. Some people are more sensitive than others to changes in barometric pressure, also known as atmospheric pressure, which typically decreases when weather conditions worsen. But where the canna responds to a rapid air pressure drop by pushing out a bit of water through its pores, we normally respond with a headache. It sounds to me that the canna is smarter than humans!
A very fascinating article. Thank you for the insight Thor! Its highly possible that plants has feelings too. Who knows? Perhaps it senses the approaching rain storm, and perhaps it knows that the rains storm will contain valuable nutrients, such as Nitrogen. It brings excitement to the plant and it literally becomes wet from joy!
I never thought of that, it’s just a good job that canna can’t speak, or we might be drowned by cheering… “Hey guys, grub on its way!” LOL