Canna: the most beautiful varieties

Canna 'Lucifer'

The Canna ‘Lucifer’ is a small dwarf cultivar, measuring just 60 cm in height at ripeness, making it perfectly suited for small gardens and pot cultivation. This beautiful rhizomatous perennial emerges in spring with large, lush leaves that are slightly undulate, medium green with bluish highlights. From July to October, it produces clusters of bright red flowers edged in golden yellow. This Canna enjoys the sun, but its flowering is even more spectacular when planted in partial shade. Not very hardy outside warm regions, it will need to be wintered in pots or have its rootstocks dug up in autumn to protect them from frost. In areas with mild winters, a thick mulch will shield it from the cold.

The Canna ‘Lucifer’ will be showcased in a pot alongside exotic-looking plants, such as the dwarf Alstroemeria ‘Pitchounes Noah’, an Agapanthus, and Coleus, which are appreciated for their vibrant foliage.

The Canna ‘Lucifer’

Canna 'Picasso'

The Canna ‘Picasso’ stands out with its charming yellow flowers, completely splashed with red, giving it an orchid-like appearance. Its beautiful lush foliage, bluish-green, also does not go unnoticed and adds a touch of exoticism to the terrace or balcony. Not very hardy, it is cultivated in the same way as Dahlias, meaning it needs to be protected or overwintered during winter. To bloom well, it prefers to be planted in full sun or partial shade, in slightly moist but well-drained soil. With a height of 90 cm at ripeness, the Canna ‘Picasso’ is perfect in pots to enhance a terrace or balcony, but also in the middle of a flower bed.

In the garden, it can be paired with other varieties of Cannas, as well as with Dahlias or a Crinum asiaticum for its giant lily-like appearance.

The Canna ‘Picasso’

Canna 'Red Wine'

The Canna ‘Red Wine’ is a hybrid variety of Canna Lily, highly valued for its stunning foliage with shades ranging from dark green to burgundy, brown, and purplish. Its lush leaves are beautifully veined with purple-red and highlight its cherry-red, slightly pink flowers from July to September. With an average height of 1.20 metres, it will transform a flowerbed or a large pot on the terrace during summer, and it will need to be overwintered in winter. This Canna enjoys full sun and partial shade, thriving in rich, well-drained soil that remains slightly moist during its flowering period.

The Canna ‘Red Wine’ will make a statement in an exotic garden, alongside a dwarf banana, a non-running bamboo, or a Colocasia for its opulent foliage.

The Canna ‘Red Wine’

Canna 'Pink President'

The Canna ‘Pink President’ stands out with its striking bright pink flowers, which bloom from July to September. It also adds an exotic touch with its large, broad leaves, a beautiful bluish-green, with darker veins. This semi-dwarf balisier forms a clump 75 cm tall, making it perfect for small gardens, as a middle feature in a border, or for pot cultivation on the terrace. This charming canna prefers to be planted in full sun or partial shade, in rich, consistently moist, but well-drained soil. Very frost-sensitive, this variety will need to be protected from winter cold.

The Canna ‘Pink President’ will thrive in a Mediterranean-style garden, as long as care is taken to keep its soil consistently moist. It will pair beautifully with the flowers of a oleander or an agapanthus, as well as the light foliage of a miscanthus.

The Canna ‘Pink President’

Canna 'Striata'

The Canna ‘Striata’ stands out from other varieties of canna for its magnificent green leaves, with yellow and cream veins, often edged in red. This beautiful foliage contrasts nicely with its long red flower stems, bearing bright orange spikes, from July until early autumn. Fast-growing, it will not go unnoticed in the garden with its height of 1.5 m. It is quite hardy for a Canna and can even withstand short periods of frost down to -10/-12 °C, as long as its rootstock is covered with mulch in winter. In regions with harsh winters, its rhizomes or pot should be stored during the cold season. Planting Canna ‘Striata’ should be done in a location with full sun or partial shade, in moist but well-drained soil.

This beautiful canna will naturally find its place on a terrace or in borders at the heart of an exotic garden, alongside dahlias, petunias, a fatsia, a palm or a banana plant.

The Canna ‘Striata’

Canna 'Cleopatra'

If you love inconsistency in the garden, Canna ‘Cleopatra’ is for you! This old variety, once known as “Indian shot”, is very changeable, which makes it rare in traditional horticultural commerce. Indeed, each rootstock produces a different plant, sometimes with variable flowers on the same spike. They can be solid or variegated, blending white, yellow, orange, and red. Its lush foliage is also changeable, with shades ranging from green to dark chocolate brown from one plant to another. It can reach heights of 1.20 to 1.50 m depending on growing conditions. This extravagant plant enjoys non-burning sun or partial shade, in rich, moist, and well-drained soil.

It deserves a prime spot in an exotic or contemporary garden, alongside a banana tree, bamboo, or Nandina.

The Canna ‘Cleopatra’

Canna 'Musaefolia'

The Canna ‘Musaefolia’, also known as Canna musifolia or Banana-leaved Canna, is one of the largest varieties of Canna. It is primarily grown for its rapid growth, easily reaching heights of 2.5 m. It is appreciated for its large ornamental leaves, green with purple veins, resembling those of a banana plant. Its summer flowering, consisting of small orange to red flowers, only appears in warm regions. Hardy down to -15 °C, it enjoys a sunny or partially shaded position in rich, moist, but well-drained soil.

It will easily replace a banana plant in an exotic garden, alongside smaller varieties of Canna, Dahlia, and Kniphofia perennials.

The Canna ‘Musaefolia’

For further reading

• Discover our range of cannas!
• To find out more, browse our sheet on Canna: how to plant, grow, and maintain