Canna Species, Bandana of the Everglades, Golden Canna Lily

In the wild, this is a common and often dominant ground cover plant in swamps, particularly when it gets enough sunlight (as when the swa...Read Moremp shrubs and trees get burned out). However, in a common garden situation in central Florida, I find it to spread no more rapidly than any of the Canna x generalis hybrids commonly grown, and its light lemon yellow color is a nice addition to my Canna collection.

This is the only canna native to Florida, and I would hesitate to plant this particular canna, as beautiful as it is, in a garden setting...Read More. I live near the Mallory Swamp in Northcentral Florida, which burned in a spectacular fire several years ago, threatening to take out several towns and burn all the way to the Gulf, thirty miles to the West, but a shift in the wind saved the towns. Our local Suwannee Audubon Club recently took a tour of parts of the swamp to see how regrowth was progressing and noted that there are literally acres of this canna now growing there. A newspaper article in a local paper about the Club's trip also noted that this canna's seed can live for over 600 years, and is activated by fire. So if you plant it, you'll have it--always.

Also my Florida native plant book notes " . . . a single plant will freely sucker and quickly cover a surprisingly large patch of ground. Since it is such a bold and rapidly spreading plant, the golden canna can scarcely be recommended for small garden settings unless suitable means are found to constrain it." (Rufinio Osorio, A Gardener's Guide to Florida's Native plants) So unless you have a bulldozer, I would hesitate before planting this in the Deep South. Osorio also notes that the flowers are short lived and will wither by late mornings.

This plant produces showy yellow flowers and is a great addition to the water garden. Skipper caterpillars will use this plant as a host...Read More plant. I keep mine in pots to prevent them from sprawling too much. The plant is cold-sensitive and will die back to the roots during a frost or freeze.

Tubers multiply but not invasively; can be overwintered outdoors in cooler zones if heavily mulched, but best to dig and store rhizomes u...Read Morentil end of winter. Let them dry in the sun for several days before storing in dry peat to prevent rotting.

Canna flaccida is easy to grow as both an aquatic and in soil. A very pretty species canna (o: