Sunday, September 9, 2007

Canna 'Gaiety'


Canna 'Gaiety'

Cannas will always make me think of my dad. When I was growing up, we had a circular flower bed to the south of our house where Dad would plant red cannas. Mom was the flower gardener, whereas Dad mostly took care of the vegetables, but he always did the cannas.

The bed was actually located in the unused alley between our lot and the neighboring one. Dad had planted the alley with grass and it looked like it was part of our yard, but it really wasn't. I remember one time someone in town drove through the canna bed just to be mean and prove that it was technically still the alley, but Dad had gotten permission to plant the cannas there.

This year was the first time I'd ever planted a canna. I chose two cultivars - 'Lippo' and 'Gaiety' - because their colors fit my 'hot' theme for the annuals garden at the north end of the veggie bed and I wanted to try something new. So far, only one bulb out of all that I planted has produced a bloom. I don't know if the others will manage to do so before frost. If not, I'll dig them up when it's time to put them in storage for the winter. They're only hardy to zone 7 and we're in zone 5.



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5 comments:

Barbara said...

I never saw cannas growing in gardens here. They are lovely!
Barbara

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful flower. I love the colours. Sara from farmingfirends

Aiyana said...

Your canna lillies lovely. Did your dad take the intrusion in stride? That would have really angered me!
Aiyana

Anonymous said...

I don't know that I've ever heard of these -- these are gorgeous!

Kylee Baumle said...

Aiyana, my dad is a pretty easy-going, gentle person, and while I'm sure he was angry about it, I don't recall that. We lived in a VERY small town (pop. 200) and he owned a grocery store there. I would imagine comments were made during conversation at the store, so he probably made his feelings about it known in a polite way.

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