tropicanna

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!

 Congratulations!

Four winners have been in announced in a Tropicanna cannas giveaway held this month as part of posts by Amy Stewart and Genevieve Schmidt of the wildly popular Garden Rant and North Coast Gardening blogs, respectively.

North Coast Gardening's Genevieve Schmidt (left) and Garden Rant's Amy Stewart (right) pretending to be Tropicanna cannas in the video accompanying their blog posts about the tropical, colorfully foliaged plant.

The winners, drawn at random, are: Michelle Derviss, Roberta Perez, Pat Leuchtman and Nicky of the 'Dirt and Martinis' blog (she didn’t want her last name listed). All these women were very excited to receive their Tropicanna canna rhizomes, and some of the ones in warmer areas have already planted them in pots.

Tropicanna Gold cannas (top) in a container with torenia 'Viva Catalina Blue' (lower left) and heuchera 'Velvet Night' (bottom right).

“I’ve created a subtropical, Balinese-inspired garden in which the Tesselaar cannas are going to be very happy,” says Michelle, a Novato, California gardener and author of the 'Garden Porn' blog. In her blog comment, Michelle even suggested a great, tropical plant combination that's perfect for container gardens or beds: Tropicanna Gold with a brilliant red foliage plant such as phormium or red banana. “Throw in some big-leafed coleus, some alocasias and a few succulents," she added, "and ya all will have a knockout vignette.”

Speaking of knockout vignettes, check out  these pics of Michelle’s home and "Pina Colada Garden," just 20 minutes north of the Golden Gate bridge.

The original Tropicanna cannas (top) in a container with zinnias (lower left) and lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (lower right).

“Thank you so much for the beautiful Tropicannas!,” says Roberta, of Monterey Park, California, who mentioned in her blog comment that her Tropicannas were so gorgeous, some jerk up and stole them on her! “I already have some pots with their names on them!" she says. "I will take photos when they are up!”

 Cool!

Nicky, of 'Dirt and Martinis,' hopes to blog about the Tropicannas and their progress on her site. “I grow in an area that gets hammered with snow in the winter,” she says. “So, I'll take great pleasure bringing these beauties indoors when it gets too cold for them.”

Tropicanna Black cannas in a container with salvia farinacea (left) and dichondra 'Silver Falls.'

Pat Leuchtman, a Charlemont, Massachusetts gardener who authors the Commonweeder blog, hasn't ever grown cannas before, “but I’m ready for Tropicanna drama.”

And with winter hanging on by its icy claws in the Northeast, who there wouldn't?

Again – congratulations, ladies! Enjoy your Tropicannas! And don't forget to send pics!

Tropicanna cannas

Tesselaar Plants and the wildly popular Garden Rant and North Coast Gardening blogs will be hosting a Tropicanna^® cannas contest soon – possibly starting next week! The contest will last a week with an announcement of the winners the following week.

The final contest idea is still being formulated, but we know Garden Rant’s Amy Stewart and North Coast Gardening’s Genevieve Schmidt plan to post a video and photos of them planting the tropical, psychedelically foliaged Tropicanna cannas along with some shots of the plants fully grown.  We look forward to the contest and anticipate Amy and Genevieve will have many good things to say about this red-hot garden plant!

Stay tuned for the contest details, but I can tell you that the winners will receive a Tropicanna variety pack. 

If you want to prepare for the contest,  check out the video “How to Grow Tropicannas in Containers” (produced by Dave Epstein of Growing Wisdom) on the “Video Clips” section of Tesselaar’s web site. Or just view it for some garden design ideas and inspiration.

While you’re at it, below are some fabulous container garden combinations featuring the original Tropicanna cannas along with the newer Tropicanna Gold and Tropicanna Black (Black is now widely available to the market after being held back for a few years because of propagation issues).

In the meantime, I’ll keep you posted on when the contest runs!

Good luck to all!

Tropicanna canna (original) at top; zinnias at middle left; lysimachia 'Nummularia Aurea' at bottom

 Tropicanna Black (top); salvia farinacea (middle left), dichondra argentea ‘Silver Falls’ (bottom)

Tropicanna Gold (top), torenia ‘Catalina Viva Blue; (bottom left) and Heuchera ‘Velvet Night’ (bottom right)

Ever dreamed about vacationing in Australia? I know I have. Well here, at least, you can take a trip through its most beautiful site (aside from the 'roos, sand, sun, surf and Sydney Opera House, of course) – the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show. Spend a few minutes down under and enjoy some dramatic flowers and fantastic foliage with this guest post from Phillip Townshend, global operations director for Tesselaar Plants.

With the chocolate coma starting to fade and the Easter Break well and truly over, I thought it time to send a quick update on the Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show, which was held just prior to Easter from the 24^th through the 28^th of March. This internationally famous show, held for the past 15 years at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Garden (below), is still an explosion of color and design. It's also the biggest annual flower garden show in the Southern Hemisphere!

Highlighting the creativity and passion of Australia's top floral and landscape designers, the Melbourne show is the horticultural industry’s premier showcase for a stunning array of inspirational displays and environmentally friendly ideas. As always, highlights included the floral spectacular inside the Great Hall of Flowers, the Children's Garden with its animal petting zoo and numerous show gardens created by some of Australia's most lauded landscape designers (all of which left me wondering why I never see the design opportunities the professionals do when working in my own garden).

Particularly inspirational for me was the outdoor exhibition of garden sculptures (below) organized by the Association of Sculptors of Victoria. All sculptures are for sale and range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. I really like the huge metal sculpture of a rose. The next time someone asks me how tough Flower Carpet^® roses are, I'm going to show them this picture!

Of course, we were at the show on business, too. And as always, Tesselaar was actively involved, hosting the media tent and celebrating our wildly popular new plant introduction, Fairy Magnolias (below) with cupcakes and pink bubbly.

One thing that really surprised all of us was the absolute interest in the new Fairy Magnolias. Everyone loved the versatility of the plant (suitable for specimens, hedging or espalier (see second image, below) and how floriferous it was, with a bud at every leaf axil.

In a nutshell, the main points that people liked were the flower, light fragrance, the fact that it was a flowering bush that could be used for hedging, the year-round lush green foliage and rapid growth.

And Tropicanna® Canna (which will soon appear in stores in the Northern Hemisphere) continues to wow garden designers, with its inclusion in many of the show's displays.

 Here I am with Tropicanna Black (its purple-black leaves soon to be topped by a coral bloom with bright-yellow edging) and Tropicanna Gold (its green, yellow and golden leaves soon to showcase a sunny, yellow-gold flower). And below that, you can see the original Tropicanna Canna that started it all in a garden setting, soon to show off its bright tangerine bloom.

Anyway, should you be planning a trip to Australia any time in the future, try to visit during the Melbourne International Flower & Garden show. It is truly a spectacular celebration of the Australian lifestyle and our great outdoors, with some of the world’s leading floral and landscape designers, all in the beautiful Carlton Gardens with great food and lots of family fun!