Tropicanna cannas

Did you know cannas can grow in a pond, just like any other water plant? “I grew a canna in my little pond for the last two summers, and it did great!” says Our Little Acre garden blogger Kylee Baumle, who uses the colorfully foliaged Tropicanna cannas in her Ohio garden.

At least that's what inspired me to try putting my own Tropicanna cannas in a large container water garden this year. To do it, I'll first need to let the rhizomes I overwintered grow a little and leaf out. But with such an unseasonably warm spring here in my Zone 6b, Rochester, NY garden, I'm going to experiment with waking them up earlier than I usually do (in late April or early May). I'm going to let the rhizomes start growing again in the warm, sunny, south-facing window along with my large croton, bamboo palm, blooming plectranthus (a hanging basket I overwintered from the fall) and spent amaryllis.

Once the leaves and shoots become 5 to 8 inches tall, I learned, I can then move them into a large container water garden. Or, I can just buy new ones (which I do each year, when I get my usual garden center gift certificate for my birthday late in May).

Since I've never really grown a container water garden before, I'm first going to consult with Larry Nau at the nearby Bergen Water Gardens and Nursery for a proper size container and whatever other materials I may need to grow my first water garden!

So far, I've learned, I need to use clay or a commercial pond soil or a combination of 20 percent potting soil and 80 percent sand mix. I know the pot doesn't need to be more than 10 to 12 inches high, but I overwintered a lot of Tropicanna canna rhizomes and I want to make sure I have enough space for the rhizomes and roots to grow outward. And if the pots have holes in them, I'll line the bottom with burlap, newspaper or some other heavy-fibered material.

Next, I'll mix this special mix of soil with water for the pot till it reaches a “mudpie” consistency. Then, I'll remove my Tropicanna from its original pot, rinse off the soil and place it into the new pot, spreading the roots (making sure the crown is 2 to 3 inches below the rim). Then, I'm going to fill the pot to about 2 to 3 inches from the top with my “mudpie” mix. I'll leave 2 to 3 inches between the soil line and the rim of the container and add gravel to give the plant a more finished look and to help keep the soil inside of the pot. Then I'll fertilize monthly with aquatic fertilizer.

Baumle overwinters her Tropicanna canna in its pot in a cool greenhouse at 55 degrees (a basement would also do) and doesn’t water it until spring. So at the end of the season, that's how I'll plan on storing it, too.

More info and pictures to come as I get the process started! I'd love to hear from anyone who's grown cannas in a container water garden before, to see what their experience was like and what advice they have to offer. So write in - tell me all about it!

Inspired by the blooms on my Tropicanna cannas, I set out to create a container garden that would satisfy my cravings for the warm, rich, saturated colors of fall. I'm linking my post to Garden Bloggers Bloom Day for October. Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is a cool idea by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. On the 15th of every month, people around the globe share what's blooming in their garden.

Here's the combo I came up with: dark foliage contrasted by hot, bright colors. Back in May, using some birthday money, I got this Tropicanna Black canna from Bristol's Garden Center in Victor, NY. The canna did well in the ground, but last month I moved it to this container. It survived the transplant well, I'm happy to say. I found the linear-leaved croton (lower right) in the "houseplants" department at Home Depot. The ornamental peppers I found in the floral department of my local supermarket - Wegmans.

Tropicanna Black canna (top), ornamental peppers (lower left) and croton (lower right)

My Flower Carpet roses are still blooming their heads off, and the petals have hung in there despite all the pelting rain…

Flower Carpet roses. Coral (left) and Amber (right)

 And here are the little 'Thumbelina' zinnias planted this spring by my 4-year-old daughter. They came in a "Veggie Tales" seed packet she picked out herself:

Only a few blooms left on my threadleaf coreopsis, so the ones remaining really pop out at you!

Well, that's about it - hope to hit the 99-cent clearance shelf of perennials this weekend and get some fall planting in!

This summer, Tesselaar Plants' group of 50 home garden plant testers were challenged to send photos of their Tropicanna cannas in various settings for the Tropicanna Photo Contest. Here are the winners, each of whom will receive a Barnes & Noble gift certificate and totebag.

Denise Pierce of Red Bay, Alabama won first place in the "Container Plantings" category with her stunning photo of Tropicanna Gold cannas surrounded by Supertunia Citrus petunias and Angelface Blue Summer Snapdragon (angelonia):

Denise also won second prize in the "Garden Setting Plantings" category for her photo of Tropicanna Black cannas planted with orange/pink shrub lantana and some orange tiger lilies next to a bird house:

Tesselaar's first prize winner in the "Garden Setting Plantings" category was Sandy Reid of Lexington, Kentucky. Despite some real weather challenges this year, Sandy’s Tropicanna Black and Tropicanna Gold cannas, planted together with various sedums and a yucca plant, are all thriving!

Linn Schlinger of Richmond, Virginia won third prize in the "Garden Settings Plantings" category with her shot of Tropicanna Black cannas in bloom next to a Peace Pole:

The first prize winner in the "Pond/Water Feature" Plantings category was Enid Caccavelli of Dry Fork, Virginia. Enid combined sunflowers, a butterfly bush, coneflowers, water hyacinths and elephant ears with her Tropicannas in this small water garden assortment:

Thanks to all who entered the contest!

Whew! Summer is busy, busy, busy! But there's still time to enter Tesselaar Plants' "Great Gardens" contest! Complete contest entry info and rules can be found on Tesselaar's online newsroom.

If you're not sure what to say or what kinds of photos to include, here's a submission sent to us from Linn Schlinger of central Virginia:

I feel my elegant Tropicanna^® Black cannas pair nicely (and simply) with the 25-year old Peace Pole I have planted them next to. Behind the beautiful Tropicanna blooms is my clematis, which bloomed profusely with huge, 8- to 9-inch-across flowers in radiant shades of purple. I was hoping to have them blooming together with that great purple/red contrast, but alas because of the drastic changes in weather this year, they have not decided to show their beauty at the same time:

Want to design some beautiful container gardens? Check out the latest how-to videos “How to Grow Tropicanna^® in Containers” and “Flower Carpet^® Roses in Containers” by Dave Epstein of Growing Wisdom.com.

You can go directly to the Growing Wisdom website, or you can see them on such other web sites as YouTube, 5min.com, mefeedia.com, www.metacafe.com, howcast.com, viddler.com and blinkx.com.

“In containers, you want a thriller, a filler and a spiller,” says Epstein in the Tropicanna cannas video. “And our Tropicannas, of course, are the thriller.” He then uses the rainbow-striped foliage of the original Tropicanna canna and the gold-striped leaves of Tropicanna Gold to create stunning container designs – even without flowers.

Those who do want flowers in their containers, however, can use Flower Carpet roses, says Epstein. “I can put one Flower Carpet rose in the container and eventually it will fill the entire container. And that’s one perfectly great choice …” Or, as he demonstrates, you can use Flower Carpet’s compact, low-growing roses as just one element – or even the centerpiece – of a great design.

In his canna container designs, he paired the original, rainbow-leaved Tropicanna cannas with small yellow zinnias and the green-and-gold-striped leaves of Tropicanna Gold (both as a vertical, showy background) with purple and yellow foliage and/or blooms like plum-black heuchera (coral bells), purple petunias and helichrysm petiolare 'Limelight.'

I also love this great container recipe using Tropicanna cannas featured in Garden Gate magazine's 2010 edition of its annual "Great Plant Combos" feature: Tropicanna canna original with caladium (large, hot-pink, heart-shaped leaves), Mexican sunflower (orange blooms) and coleus 'Buttercup' (subbing in, if you wish, Joseph's coat and/or flowering maple).

My personal favorite, however, is Tropicanna^® Black - and good news, gardeners! Huge supplies of this purple-black leaved favorite are now available for the 2011 gardening season. I chose to plant it in a container with Tropicanna gold and purple oranmental kale. (a combination that'll transition well into fall). Remember: that gold/lime/purple color combo just can't be beat!

Flower Carpet roses' unique, low-growing habit, meanwhile, is more ideally suited to container gardens than other easy-care shrub or landscape roses. Here are just a few design ideas. And don't forget to check out all the care and cultural information in Dave's videos!

Have a great container combination using roses or cannas? Post a comment, and share it with me!