Canna – A Spectacular Addition to your

Potted Desert Summer Garden

Through my years of desert container gardening, I often have gone into various phases of plant selection, especially in my tall plants that give the pots their backbone. There were years of Butterfly Iris, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Mexican Lime Trees and other plants striving for grand stature in jumbo pots (over 28″ interior diameter.)   

I don’t recall my first experience with Canna. I was most likely strolling through a nursery and saw these mammoth plants with huge, gorgeous flowers that appeared like they did not belong in the desert. Often striving for a tropical look, I immediately would have been drawn to them to find out more.   

Canna is a perennial, but one often treated as a summer annual in our desert climate. If planted in the ground, it will survive most mid and low-desert climates, but the canes will die back if we have any freezing temperatures.   If their root system survives the cold, the plants will return as the soil heats, however, they do need to be divided as they continue to multiply in width.

The same is true in pots, but mature rhizomes take up a lot of room in the pot and prevent a full planting during winter months. Therefore, I remove the root systems and give them to my clients and employees to plant in their garden beds. There is no problem starting a fresh set each year.   

Canna range from two to eight feet tall, depending on the variety. They can spread from one to three feet in width and larger if planted in the ground and left undivided.   

Their giant flowers are Iris-like and range in color from yellow to orange and red. What makes some of the options really stand out is the foliage color. While there is “ho-hum” green 😊, other Canna may have bronze or deep burgundy leaves. A popular variety in Arizona is Tropicanna, an orange-red flower with a variegated deep green, cream and burgundy leaf.   

Using Canna in Your Pots  

Pots

A note on pots for Canna. The plants get rather large and the rhizomes take up a lot of soil room. Therefore, I strongly urge you to put them in extra-large pots, meaning 24″ and larger. If you want to create a combination planting, go bigger!  

Buying Canna  

Look for Canna in late April or May at your nursery. It is a heat-loving plant, so they are not typically the first flowers you see come out in late spring. Plant Canna from one-gallon plants to provide early growth after the winter season.   

Planting  

Use my regular planting fertilizer instructions and planting techniques. If the plant’s root ball is dry, water it thoroughly before planting.   

Dig a keep hole in your container’s soil, but make sure that you don’t cover the roots more than they were in the can. Pack the soil around them and water well after planting.  

Care  

No special care is needed for Canna. Fertilize, water, jet-blast and deadhead as you would any flowering plant. Be sure to deadhead down the stem to a junction point or where you see new growth.  

Winds and Monsoon  

The leaves on the Canna are vast, making them susceptible to tearing. They can look ragged during a windy season. Picture what happens to flags sailing day after day around town. Their edges and weakened centers can be torn. If possible, plant where they get some protection. However, I know this is not always possible.  

Before the monsoon season’s winds and rain hit our desert homes, make sure that your potted Canna is not in a pot that risks toppling.   

Designing with Canna  

Canna can be planted in a pot as a single plant or used as the centerpiece of a jumbo pot, surrounded (or fronted) with mid-height, short and trailing plants and flowers.