Canna 'Wyoming'

Canna 'Wyoming' is a very tall-growing cultivar with dark-purplish and green foliage, purple-red stems and large orange flowers. An impressive plant with a vigourous and robust habit, 'Wyoming' is one the larger cannas reaching a height up to 2.3m. The sombre dark purple streaks and dramatic flushes on its foliage are accompanied by a brighter purple-red leaf margin and there are usually streaks of this same toned purple-red on one or both sides of the central vein. Soaring high above this stunning bronze foliage the orange blooms are a striking contrast.

Canna 'Wyoming' was originally developed by Antoine Wintzer for Conard & Jones Co of West Grove, Pennsylvania where he was the head-nurseryman and it was entered into the 1906 RHS Canna trials at Wisley where it won an AGM. Nearly a hundred years later, it won another AGM at the RHS trials in 2002.

Like all Cannas, 'Wyoming' responds well to a nutrient-rich organic soil with regular feeding during the growing cycle and copious quantities of water. The more nutrients and water it receives during the summer growing months the healthier and stronger it will be. Cannas grown in this manner - with a generous cultivation regime - will always be more resistant to Canna virus than neglected specimens, particularly those grown in a container where they are prone to fill the pot with their massive root structure and dry out very quickly.

I have very fond memories of early childhood associated with this cultivar as my father grew a large bed of Canna 'Wyoming' in our garden and even though they were at the bottom of a slope I can still remember how they towered above me.

Canna 'Wyoming' was the late Christopher Lloyd's favourite Canna and one that he often planted at Great Dixter in combination with Dahlia 'David Howard'.

In compiling the Canna listings on Tropical Britain I acknowledge and am grateful to Malcolm Dalebo for his important work in arranging Canna cultivars into coherent groups that make a logical sense.