Jim: Canna 'Orange Punch' is another C. iridiflora hybrid with the typical pendant flowers. Canna 'Ehemanii' suffers from poor availability since most commercial production focus is on short cannas (didn't you realize that everyone is limited by fly over space?) that look good in pots in a garden center and plants these tall cannas tend not to get folks excited until they plant them in the garden. For the last 6+ years, we have been working to have the virus cleaned up on cannas, since pretty much all cannas were heavily virused at that time. We sent Canna 'Ehemanii' to the lab last year, so hopefully in the 1-2 years, you'll see it hit the market again and virus free this time. Tony Avent Plant Delights Nursery @ Juniper Level Botanic Garden 9241 Sauls Road Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 USA Minimum Winter Temps 0-5 F Maximum Summer Temps 95-105F USDA Hardiness Zone 7b email tony@plantdelights.com website http://www.plantdelights.com/ phone 919 772-4794 fax 919 772-4752 "I consider every plant hardy until I have killed it myself...at least three times" - Avent -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jim McKenney Sent: Thursday, October 20, 2011 2:21 PM To: Pacific Bulb Society Subject: [pbs] Canna 'Ehemannii' I like cannas, although it's hard to avoid the point of view that most of them look a bit like a tobacco plant with a pole in the middle on top of which there is a blob of color. There is one blooming in the garden now which is very distinctive. It's called Canna 'Ehemannii', and it has been known since the late nineteenth century. What makes it so distinctive is that the flowers are widely spaced and they hang out horizontally or even droop from the inflorescence. In some photos I've seen it looks as if the entire inflorescence droops. Canna 'Ehemannii' is said to be a form or a hybrid of Canna iridiflora. If you Google Canna iridiflora, you'll see images of a very similar plant: I'm not sure what, if any, differences there are between 'Ehemannii' and Canna iridiflora. It's a real puzzle to me why cannas with this habit of growth - the drooping inflorescence - are not more common. Here's a canna which is actually graceful. And my sense of puzzlement is increased when I see the name Canna iridiflora in the genealogy of so many older canna hybrid strains. Does anyone know if there are other canna cultivars with a drooping inflorescence? And does anyone grow Canna iridiflora itself? Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ <http://www.jimmckenney.com/> BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ <http://www.pvcnargs.org/> Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/ <http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/>