"DavePoole Torquay" wrote in message
ups.com...
Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:
I have never really liked these things--the flowers are a bit bright and
seem to shout vulgarity. This year I have grown C. musifolia purely for
the
big "sod off" leaves. The promise of no significant flowers and a plant
now
over 9 feet tall has been fulfilled. It looks like a banana with smaller
leaves which do not get shredded by wind.

Well done, 'Musifolia' is the giant of the canna world (almost
certainly a variant of Canna indica) and greatly respected by those who
get a kick out of massive leaved exotics.

I am now a convert and would like
to get hold of cannas with white flowers. Does anyone grow white
varieties
and if so could they give me a few names and if possible suppliers.

Ah, now there's a problem. Most of the so-called white Cannas are
realy very pale yellows or blush pinks. I say most, because there's
not a lot and they are very rarely offered. This is possibly because
the palest of the pastel shades tend to have flowers that are extremely
weak textured and are rapidly reduced to a soggy mess in wet weather.
I don't think that any of the major suppliers are offering them at the
moment. They are so poor that I've never given them a second thought
and consequently, can't for the life of me remember a varietal name.
Now if someone could come up with a weather resistant, truly white
flowered Canna that would be something. Unfortunately, such a quest is
akin to the search for the Holy Grail.!


Thanks David that explains this statement from a US website
"This Curt Wallace hybrid is still regarded as the closest to white (as
judged by a team of color-blind nurserymen) that is available in the canna
family"
So it sounds like caveat emptor on eBay offerings of pure white cannas at
$5000:-)