Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence.

Olafhenny · 07-21-2012, 08:16 PM

These cannas are clearly showing signs of feeling good in a planter with 27” deep soil and compost
(My brand new "tropical" planter).
I stuck the chair there simply to indicate scale.

These plants are clearly under stress, same age and size when they were planted out, but subject
to flooding since the middle of May with the water level of the pond, only 3 feet away from the
plant to the left only between 4 and 10 inches below the top of soil at the plants all that time. (Same
chair)

Interesting observations: The lower leaves were formed during the early stages of the flood
and look quite sickly, while the cannas seemed to have adapted to the soggy conditions over
time and now sport much healthier looking foliage. Still the stress is evident, because they
all have flower stalks, while the same age cannas in better environments show no flower stems
yet. That seems to confirm, that stress triggers propagation mechanisms.

This canna, sharing a large elevated pot (in one of my ‘pot pyramids’) with a Musa Ornata, has good
soil, but not in such massive supply as the one in the top photo and is accordingly a good foot
shorter at this time, though healthy and in no rush to bloom.

This shot shows the bananas, which were rather unimpressed by the ample supply of prime soil
and have consequently been dwarfed by the cannas. The one in the background is a young
Basjoo and the other two, still connected by a common corm and so far producing one pup
between them, are Ornatas.

palmtree · 07-22-2012, 02:43 AM

Interesting pics, the healthy cannas look great! I think the reason why your first canna isnt in bloom yet is because it's a different variety than the other dark foliaged cannas in the other pics. The one in your first pic looks like the same canna I have. Mine is a real stubborn bloomer, but gets very tall (up to 11 feet last year) and has beautiful leaves (and it survived the winter with no problems!). The one in the second pic looks like tropicana which doesnt get as tall, but makes beautiful blooms and can still reach pretty good heights (mine have gotten to 6 feet).
I do think that stress triggers blooms though since I have seen really diseased cannas blooming earlier and better than non diseased ones.

Olafhenny · 07-22-2012, 11:27 AM

Hi Alex,

the canna in the first pic. is actually an 'Australia'. I saw and admired it in the front yard of a neighbour
and asked him for a rhisome, if he had any spare. He gave me three, the two in the planter and the one
in the pot pyramid. The patterning and colour of the leaves is very similar to the Tropicana, but slightly
darker, so is the flower.

07-21-2012, 08:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 230,748 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. These cannas are clearly showing signs of feeling good in a planter with 27” deep soil and compost (My brand new "tropical" planter). I stuck the chair there simply to indicate scale. These plants are clearly under stress, same age and size when they were planted out, but subject to flooding since the middle of May with the water level of the pond, only 3 feet away from the plant to the left only between 4 and 10 inches below the top of soil at the plants all that time. (Same chair) Interesting observations: The lower leaves were formed during the early stages of the flood and look quite sickly, while the cannas seemed to have adapted to the soggy conditions over time and now sport much healthier looking foliage. Still the stress is evident, because they all have flower stalks, while the same age cannas in better environments show no flower stems yet. That seems to confirm, that stress triggers propagation mechanisms. This canna, sharing a large elevated pot (in one of my ‘pot pyramids’) with a Musa Ornata, has good soil, but not in such massive supply as the one in the top photo and is accordingly a good foot shorter at this time, though healthy and in no rush to bloom. This shot shows the bananas, which were rather unimpressed by the ample supply of prime soil and have consequently been dwarfed by the cannas. The one in the background is a young Basjoo and the other two, still connected by a common corm and so far producing one pup between them, are Ornatas. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

07-22-2012, 02:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
palmtree palmtree 's Photo Gallery Location: New York City Find me on the map! Zone: 7b Name: Alex C Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1,016 BananaBucks : 94,259 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1,492 Times Was Thanked 1,428 Times in 644 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 103 Times	Re: Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. Interesting pics, the healthy cannas look great! I think the reason why your first canna isnt in bloom yet is because it's a different variety than the other dark foliaged cannas in the other pics. The one in your first pic looks like the same canna I have. Mine is a real stubborn bloomer, but gets very tall (up to 11 feet last year) and has beautiful leaves (and it survived the winter with no problems!). The one in the second pic looks like tropicana which doesnt get as tall, but makes beautiful blooms and can still reach pretty good heights (mine have gotten to 6 feet). I do think that stress triggers blooms though since I have seen really diseased cannas blooming earlier and better than non diseased ones. __________________ Location: New York City, zone 7b

07-22-2012, 11:27 AM	#3 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 230,748 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. Hi Alex, the canna in the first pic. is actually an 'Australia'. I saw and admired it in the front yard of a neighbour and asked him for a rhisome, if he had any spare. He gave me three, the two in the planter and the one in the pot pyramid. The patterning and colour of the leaves is very similar to the Tropicana, but slightly darker, so is the flower. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

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