Canna
Canna x generalis
Big tropical leaves and bright flowers all summer on a fast clump that loves heat, sun and moist soil, even the edge of a pond. Deadhead to keep it blooming, and dig the roots for winter where the ground freezes.
- Mature size
- 5 × 2 ft
- 1.5 × 0.6 m, tall × wide
- Hardiness
- Zones 8a–11b
- USDA
- Sun
- Full sun to part sun
- Water
- Dry to wet
- Blooms
- Jun–Sep
Canna at its mature size
A mature Canna grows to about 5 ft tall and 2 ft wide.
Drawn to scale beside a 5 ft 9 in person. With VeraScape, you see it at this size in your own yard.
Typical mature size, unpruned. Sources: NC State Extension, Texas Tech University.
Through the year
What Canna looks like month by month in a typical zone 6–7 garden.
Below ground · Oct–Mar
Dies back to the rhizomes over winter.
New growth · Apr–May
Young paddle leaves unfurling, no flower stalks yet.
In flower · Jun–Sep
Orange-red flowers on tall stalks above the leaves.
Growing Canna
- Grows well in
- The Southeast, the Plains and Mountain West, and California.
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Good for
- Drought tolerant, rain garden, and fast growing
- Leaves
- Dies back in winter
- Native to
- Garden hybrid (tropical species)
Spacing
VeraScape spaces plants so their grown canopies just touch. For Canna, that’s about 2 ft apart, center to center.
Place a row in your own yard and VeraScape spaces them at their mature width, so you can see whether they’ll crowd the walk.
See Canna in your yard before you dig
Visualize it at its true size, alongside the rest of your design.