Striking red flowers are borne above tropical green foliage during warmer months of the year.
Canna Show Off® varieties are selected for their clean, vibrant lines which blend well into modern plantings providing a tropical accent. Both foliage and flowers are used in floral decoration. Before its striking red flowers even emerge, the remarkable tropical green colour of the Canna Show Off® 'Firecracker' foliage draws the eye in full sun or part shade positions.
In most warmer regions of Australia, Canna Show Off® delivers its best display of foliage during Winter, and bursts into flower in the warmer months from Spring, through Summer and into Autumn. In your garden plant in sunny positions and consider positioning smaller varieties under trees to draw the eye. Cannas can be used to advantage as ornamental potted plants as long as they are kept continually moist to keep them growing happily. Both foliage and flowers are popular in cut flower arrangements.
Plant Canna Show Off® into soil that is well worked with plenty of good compost. Sunny aspects are preferred to achieve good strong growth and ensure flowering, although part shade is also manageable when the foliage is most desirable. Mulch, water in well and keep the moisture levels up to the new planting. Once each flower has come to its end, remove by cutting at the base of the stem to promote further flowering right through Summer and into Autumn. If rust spots appear on older leaves remove them immediately and dispose of them out of your garden. Do not add to your compost heap as the spores will survive composting and reinfect the plants next season. In Winter, cut the foliage down to ground level to benefit new growth in Spring.
Canna Show Off® do need to be lifted every two to three years at the end of Winter. Wait until the weather is warming up and lift out of the soil. Cutting any foliage growth back to 15cm from the tuber. Shake the soil loose and cut the tuber into pieces with no more than two eyes to each piece. Plant only healthy undamaged pieces into composted garden or container with premium potting mix, and mulch around the plant.
Since Cannas were first introduced to cultivation, hybridisation has occurred naturally at such a rate that telling the true parentage of Canna Show Off® is no longer possible. That being said, it is generally agreed that Canna orchiodes is certainly present in most varieties found today.
The Cannaceae family also includes the edible Canna edulis commonly called Queensland Arrowroot. Tubers of some other varieties within the Cannaceae family are prized by native plant foragers in many parts of the world.
Wear gloves & wash hands after gardening.
