The cannas start blooming in May and go till frost in this garden. I think their floppy petals look like cancan skirts flouncing around.

Maggie, I enjoyed the come stroll on cannas. You are absolutely correct on their hardiness. One thing I might add for new gardeners is to spray them with BT in the spring to kill the worms that eat holes in the leaves before they've even unfurled. However, the variety,Tropicana, does not seem to attract those worms. Sorry, the name of the worms evades me at the moment, but Maggie can surely supply it if anyone wants to know.

I would have never thought of putting the purple fountain grass with the cannas, but it photographed beautifully. I really like that combination.

I’m glad you brought the leaf-roller worms up Caro. Now that my column, ergo CS articles, are limited to a set space, they can’t cover everything I might usually ramble on about – and you know how hard it is to shut me up when it comes to gardening ;-) So its great to get more discussion going about the comestrollie subjects, here on the forum.

Our area had a severe outbreak of the canna leaf roller worms (larva of ugly little moth), maybe 10?yrs ago. I was on the verge of excluding cannas completely when the city-wide plague passed after the 3rd year. The nasty critters defeat the usual caterpillar predators – birds – by sealing themselves shut inside the coiled young leaves, where they can munch away safely.

It is maddening to try to break their cobweb-like seal and unwind the leaf, get posed to smash the cad, only to have it drop into the bed and not be able to find it. So I began treating them with the BT, by squirting it into the top of the coiled leaves from a ketchup-type plastic bottle, trying to avoid killing any wanted butterfly caterpillars. It worked great, as long as I dosed every emerging new coil, early enough. But it was a real pain to mess with! Was so glad to see the end of that phase. I had begun ordering bene nematodes out of Calif around then, so maybe that helped. And maybe the predatory wasps and flies defeat them ala naturel.

Thank you again David for that beautiful spotted Cleopatra, and the two lovelies you gave me this year. Wish I’d had room to put pics up of all the gals.

Like you Caro, I am very taken with the contrast between lime greens and blackish foliage. So much so, that I have been working on converting a section of the long border to that direction. It is where I had once aimed at a 'black and white' attempt, but the area was too small to keep white blooms evolving for sev months w/o them being too spotty. I am enjoying the foliage scene much more.

That looks really fine. You could probably use some of this purple sweet potato vine that I have for the dark purple contrast. So far, after a few lame attempts, the g-word haven't eaten it. Of course, maybe they are saving it for later.

After the pic was shrunk and posted, I realized it had really lost its impact and detail. There is some of the "Blackie" sweet potato on the bottom left and the lime green one "Margarita" further back. They have grown some since the pic was taken, nicely winding between everything. Last year, I had to do a lot of snipping of their overgrowth in autumn, to keep them from smothering everything else! There is a solid lime coleus in the back, but these two-toned ones have been so fun against the dark grass.

This extra clay-ie section of the border retains water forever, so it suits the coleus and companions just right.

Do you grow your Coleus from seed Maggie? They have to be one of the most wonderful plants from seed, when you have a tray full and all the leaves are showing different colours and markings. That one is perfect for the colour combination in your photo. You may have gathered that I am a leaf lover more than a flower lover, Oh! and very much a grass lover, never seen that one over here, is it perennial? Is it hardy? Can Carolyn bring me some seeds of it? lol

I'll be happy to bring you some coleus seeds. But, grass! Not bloody likely! (Hope everyone realizes that I am being funny here.)

Just a post about Canna's...The true Canna Species do not have a leaf roller problem and they do not have a ugly look after blooming....They tend to drop there own blooms when they are through and the leaf is a little bit thicker than the leaf roller can handle......Just thought I would give my 2cents worth......I have not had to big a problem with the rollers this year....I usually rip the leaf of its web and grab the little stucker of a worm and toss it into my pond....The gold fish love them!!! Its kind of a payback!!

Ok, so are you saying that the common green cannas that we all call cannas are not really cannas?

I "did" notice that the worms this spring left the Tropicana that you gave me completely alone, while making intriguing designs in the other green leafed cannas. Sadly, the grasshoppers did not make that same distinction.

And, how do you know which of the new leaves have the worm in them? I never know until the leaves open and have that snowflake effect.

The fancy ones are hybrids Caro. They are all classified under C. generalis, since their ancestry wasn’t carefully recorded when folks started crossing them from the species ones in the mid 19th century.
During that bad roller worm plague – it seemed that all the leaves had the worms. That is why I would squirt BT in every new coil – just to be safe. Worked good – big tedious pain in the whatever, tho
We could always label Ter’s request with its real name Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’ in a prescription bottle and claim it as gardening-addiction medication

Worth more than 2cts David, and always appreciated! The 7-8ft tall, burgundy-black leaf one (turns mostly green in mid summer) in the long border is probably one of the 25 species ones. It has scrawny orange flowers, but I like it for the foliage more than the bloom. You are right about the leaves being tough – I always have an urge to thatch the gazebo with them :-0
Love your gruesome roller revenge!
I put the ‘Wyoming’ in part shade – thinking it might keep the color longer there in mid summer, like the Tropicana. Do you agree? or should I move it to full sun?

The fountain grass isn't hardy here Terry and the one time I tried to hold some over in the grnhouse, it croaked that one night the door was left open.
Other news about that sad episode... My ancient trop hibiscus - the one you liked the pic of last year - I was so sad when it just sat there for months, looking bare and dead as a doorknob. The pot is so huge that I had just chopped the branches off and left it as is, all these months. Well lo and behold,,, it has recovered - new stems and leaves all over and the bougainvillea made a late come back too. Such a great surprise!
Anywayyyy I have added some reddish perennial grass in the lime bed, in hopes of it replacing the fountain grass one day, so as to not have to re set the annual grass every year.

Terry, are Cannas still called “Indian Shot” in England? Maybe because the round black seeds reminded someone of shot gun ammo? I found a ref to that common name attached to the species C. indica, whose description sure sounds like my tall dark handsome one. Isn't that Latin name strange, since they are all native to Central and S. Amer – not India.

That Canna is new to me this year....So I can not speak from experience yet...I would leave it were you have it for now...I have one in a pot in full late afternoon sun....I am keeping a eye on it to see how it does.....I will let you know
You are totally correct on the hybrids....We breed for color and height and bloom....Then everyone forgets about the down side of what you lose....I do like Species and will have to try more in the future...There is a place for sport or hybrids, don't get me wrong...but I am a lazy gardener, so if the plant will do (deadheading and not prone to insects) then that is my kind of plant...

Carolyn, be careful of sending dried calendula through the mail too. I sent some to our daughter, I thought it was packaged well. But the PO managed to crush it even better. They held our daughter at the PO until a drug dog could come check out the package. Now she won't let me send her any more dried herbs of any kind.

Like David, I feel great when I can toss the chickens a bug from the garden.

Cannas are beautiful - sure wish I could grow some here. We have to dig the bulbs in the winter, and I'm a lazy gardener too.

Love that PO story! Isn't it great fun, now that its OUR turn to give our kids something to worry about!!! My family is on a constant Mom Alert ;-)