Brown Sugar Canna
Canna x generalis ‘Brown Sugar’
Happy Fourth of July to all the Americans out there, and to others too, but it is just another summer Wednesday to you. I am posting before going off to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden today. I am really excited as I haven’t been down there in a couple of years and the last couple of visits have been during the way off-season. I hope to get some pictures to share with you. The Canna pictured today is ‘Brown Sugar’. It really has a dark leaf and while they haven’t come out yet a pink flower. It is suppose to get to 3 to 4 feet, which to me is a short or dwarf Canna. I didn’t actually order these they were sent as a substitution and I am happy that I got them.
On the other side of the spectrum here is a silver colored ground cover called ‘Silver Brocade’ (Artemisia stelleriana). It has been fairly compact in the garden (12 to 15 inches tall). It has yellow flowers but I find them of little value and pinch them off. It needs great drainage and mine have thrived along in the stone dust and sand edge of a flagstone terrace. It features aromatic foliage.
A couple of weeks ago we had a hail storm at the Estate. I wasn’t there as it was a Saturday night but it sure did a lot of damage. It made some of the deepest and broadest washouts I have seen in my 20+ years there. It also shredded the Cannas, Catalpas (Purple and Golden), Hostas and a slew of other plants. It was about marble sized from the owners report. It seemed to devastate some plants and not really affect others. The Brown Sugar Canna was shredded but the picture is from a new leaf. All in all the hail storm is one of the most damaging summer storms I have seen there, beside the micro-burst that knocked down 40 trees but that is a story for another day. It left about 3 inches of leaves from all the trees all over everything and I have finally got most of that cleaned up. The Bananas were totally messed up but are already coming back. I have a small group of fruit on the largest tree but some animal has decided to eat them.
The Hosta collection was pretty much torn up and I have been cutting them back. I was sorry to see ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ (hybrid of H. sieboldiana x H. lancifolia) ruined before it reached its full glory.
3 comments:
Thankfully we are only suffering rain and not hail, although those that have been flooded out of house and home probably wouldn't agree with me there. As a gardener it must be heart breaking to have all that damage done. Bob.
Unlike ukbob (slightly more North of England than I) we had a hailstorm yesterday. Sorry to hear of the damage yours caused. I love the leaf colour of that canna and it's not one I've noticed over here. I shall be scouring the plant catalogues for this as dwarf ones are handy in my small garden.
ukbob,
thanks for visiting. It was kind of devastating about the damage but it it is cleaned up till the next time.
Ruth,
The dwarf Cannas are lovely. I didn't know you had hail over there. Learn something new every day.
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