Tropicanna^® cannas shine at 2011 Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

The following guest post comes from Phillip Townshend, global operations director for Tesselaar Plants, the Australian developer of the colorfully foliaged Tropicanna cannas:

Tropicanna cannas shine at Melbourne

By Phillip Townshend

Well, what can I say to fully describe another successful year at the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show in Melbourne, Australia? Regarded as the largest and most successful horticultural show in the Southern Hemisphere, this world-renowned attraction has been going for 105 years, the last 17 of which have been at Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building and surrounding Carlton Gardens.

The show is still ranked in the top five flower shows in the world and continues to excite, with an estimated 130,000 visitors this year from around the globe. It was especially nice to see our fabulous Tropicanna cannas resplendent in the surrounds of Carlton Gardens as part of the normal planting palette:

Tropicanna cannas continue to draw plenty of interest from gardening enthusiasts around the world, and I think we sometimes forget how versatile this plant is. It performs with low water conditions right through to boggy wetlands and can be used in mass plantings in the landscape or as a feature in containers – all with dramatic effect.

The proof is in these pics of Tropicanna taken at the show – when, by all accounts, they shouldn’t be looking their best here in the Southern Hemisphere's cool autumn weather. But as you no doubt will agree, they look quite stunning. In fact, they seem to glow like stained glass when backlit by the sun.

Tropicannas aside, the Melbourne show is something everyone should try to attend at least once in their life (include it on your Bucket List). After all, it's in Melbourne, often voted one of the most beautiful places in the world to visit. The city is also known for its great food, fashion, art and yes, tons of shopping. So please try to make it – you'll be so glad you did!