Revisiting Canna ‘Rubra Superbissima’

A tall Foliage Group cultivar; green and purple variegated foliage, transparent margin, branching habit; oval stems, coloured purple; spikes of flowers are erect, self-coloured orange, staminodes are long and narrow, edges regular, fully self-cleaning; fertile both ways, not true to type, self-pollinating, capsules globose; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured purple; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Théodore Année, Passy, France, EU in 1862.

Revisiting Canna ‘Ehemannii’

A tall Foliage Group cultivar; green foliage, oval-acuminate shaped, spreading habit; round stems, coloured green; flowers are pendant panicles, self-coloured carmine, staminodes are large, edges regular, labellum is carmine, petals red; seed is sterile, pollen is fertile; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is prolific.

Introduced by Théodore Année, Passy, France, EU. A hybrid cross of C. iridiflora and C. indica warscewiczii. It was distributed by M. Kolb, Inspector of the Botanical Garden at Munich, who first distributed it as C. iridiflora hybrida, but later as C. ‘Ehemanni’, named after Herr Ehemann of Stuttgart. They were able to do things like that in those days as there were no International rules of naming behaviour.

Awards:

• 1880, R.H.S. First Class Certificate (equivalent to the AGM).
• 2002, ‘Award of Garden Merit’ at the RHS Wisley trials.
  

The two highest awards possible and earned 122 years apart. It says it all for the quality of this hybrid.