From a problem spot in the garden to a brilliantly colored canna lily collection

My favorite color of all my canna lilies, "Apricot Dream"

When I first started gardening here at Rosehaven Cottage, I was faced with a conundrum. Due to weird drainage issues in the back garden, I decided to work with the problem instead of against it and dug a pond. These drainage issues and the pond created a unique situation... an area with clay soil, boggy conditions and full sun. I went on a hunt for what would grow in these conditions, but found that not many bog plants love full sun... at least the kind of full sun we get around here in the height summer--intense blistering sun and rarely any summer rain.

That's when I discovered canna lilies. I knew of them as some really common varieties are grown a lot around the Bay Area in mass plantings. Most of those varieties are planted for their variegated or burgundy-tinged foliage. The variegated ones usually produce a bright orange flower. The burgundy-tinged foliage produce a brilliant scarlet flower. As I often do, I went on a hunt to see if there were other varieties besides what was always in stock at the big box and home improvement stores.

I first searched at our local nursery center and found the common varieties I was used to seeing. I bought some of the burgundy-tinged cannas with their brilliant scarlet red blooms to put in the area right by the pond and give it a go.

The cannas LOVED it! They liked have soggy feet and sun-scorched heads. In fact, they began propagating on their own rather quickly through an underground reproduction system similar to rhizome plants like iris. I was very pleased. I have really good luck with bulbs and rhizomes (not so much with seeds) so this seemed to be a good fit.

But I wanted more variety. And I wanted lush looking bright green foliage that looked like it came straight off a tropical island.

The color of watermelon!

I went to the trusty internet to find out what other colors canna lilies came in and to see if I could procure some. Hunting around I was in a tropical-lover's paradise. I felt like I'd been transported to my beloved Hawaiian island of O'ahu.

It was then that I knew I needed to have a canna lily garden with all my favorite varieties I was finding. I didn't want all the colors... just the ones that made me smile the moment I saw their photograph.

This color also reminds me of ripe juicy melon

This year is the first year that the canna lilies have really filled in the beds I created and they've put on the tropical color show I'd been envisioning when I ordered them over the internet.

Some grow in large pots that sit directly on the ground with a dripper in each connected to the entire drip-mist system that irrigates my drought-tolerent garden. Some are directly in the ground (with a dripper at the base of each) in a raised bed right next to the deck so when I lean over the railing I am met with an explosion of colors that rivals any crayola box. It amazes me because nothing else really wants to grow there. But the cannas do.

Canna lilies are sensitive to frost so they eventually wither up and turn brown some time in December. I leave the dead foliage on as frost protection until around early March. Then I gently cut it all back to find new green spears emerging from the old foliage. By May or June, I have beautiful green tropical foliage and the beginnings of the bloom that lasts all summer if I continue to deadhead them.

I couldn't be happier with the result. And each year the beds will get fuller and more beautiful because of the canna's propensity to self-propagate.

Not bad considering it all started out because I had a problem spot in the garden.

Autumn in the Rosehaven Cottage gardens: Canna lilies and bougainvillea blooming

This morning I woke up from a dream that I was in my beloved Hawai'i. It was probably the morning sun shining through the window onto me as I slept ensconced by sun-loving cats. I found it unusual though. I usually don't yearn to escape to a tropical paradise until some time after Christmas and before Valentine's Day--in other words that cold month known as January. Since spending that entire month lounging in a chaise on the shores of Turtle Bay is completely unfeasible financially and logistically, a few years ago I set a goal to grow sub-tropical plants and shrubs in my own garden to create the feeling of being there.

After hunting around, I found quite a few sub-tropicals that can stand winter temperatures down to 20F (-7C) which is usually the coldest it gets here in winter. I've got some sub-tropicals that prefer to remain a few degrees above freezing like a tender hibiscus and a plumeria, so I put those in pots where I can pamper them through frosty nights. The bougainvillea doesn't like frost either, but it has to tough it out in the ground (sometimes I wonder if it will come back in the spring). The rest of my homage to Hawai'i (birds of paradise, canna lilies, palms, New Zealand flax and Japanese water iris) tough it out quite well in various spots throughout the garden when our overnight temps dip down into the frosty range.

Overnight frost is still a few weeks away in our micro-climate, so even though it's November I'm enjoying the beauty of gorgeous tropical looking canna lilies in my back garden. I put in quite a few new varieties last spring so the colors are all new to me. I'm really enjoying the pretty sherbet-toned surprises.

Despite hints and scowls from Hubby, I haven't had the heart to cut back the long invasion thorny tendrils of bougainvillea that creep toward the cars parked in the driveway. Our coolish summer got it off to a late start, and I want to savor their pink and orange tissue paper blooms before they're zapped by Jack Frost's breath in a few weeks.

Soon the leaves of the canna will succumb to the colder nights too. But I know that their hardy rhizomes are underground waiting for February and March to come so they can send up shoots again and dazzle me with their glory for the next 9 months. If they can tough out January, then I can too.

Never heard of a "micro climate"?
Click here to read about ours

The Good, the Bad, and the Bits of a Busy Week

Have you ever had a week where you look back on it and all you can say is, "WOW!" That's the kind of week I've had. It's been a "WOW" week in mostly good ways, so that's nice.

The Good

One of the nice things that happened this week was that I was able to transplant an ill-placed canna lily from the front garden where it was being usurped by mint into a pot so it could be placed in one of my water gardens. I was so pleased that after my hard work it "thanked" me by blooming right away. I had forgotten what the name of it was, what variety it was, and what color it was (I'm trying not to feel guilt for that) so this bloom of pale yellow with peachy accents was such a pleasant surprise.

The other thing I like about this bloom is that it has that shimmery pearlescent quality to it that some cannas have (some glads and iris have it too). It always reminds me of a garden jewel when I see a bloom like that.

The Bad

Above left is a photo of my "Breath of Heaven" bush just a few months ago. It blooms once a year but always has such wonderful feathery foliage--until this year. Above right is a photo what it looks like now. After watching it dry up and deteriorate for about a month, I finally had to cut it back earlier this week. I don't know if the neighbor's gardener accidentally sprayed it with weed-killer through the picket fence or if it got zapped during our July heatwave. All I know is that it isn't happy and that makes me not so happy. It is one of the plants I put in the first spring we lived here in 2001, so I'd really hate for it to leave now. I'm hoping it will bounce back.

The Bits

The real reason why this has been a "WOW" week has been what's been going on in my design studio. As I posted over on the Creative Studio blog, I was absolutely tickled pink (pun intended) that my new design "French Poodle" won an award on Zazzle for Today's Best!

The story behind this design is really special. The design was inspired by my niece Cammi. I called her a couple of days ago to tell her about my new line of designer Keds. I asked her if there was some design in particular that she would like to see on a kid's shoe. She said that she'd like to see a shoe in pink and black with maybe a little poodle on it.

Cammi told me that she'd send me some sketches in the mail. She wanted me to have the originals so instead of scanning them in and sending them email, she sent them snail mail. I didn't get the sketches until after I had designed "French Poodle". However, based on just the phone conversation, I think that Cammi and I were on the same wavelength. Do you think so too?

Below left is Cammi's Sketch and below right are two of my final shoe designs...

I am thoroughly enjoying this creative process with Cammi. She is such a talented 9 year old with such artistic vision. It is a real joy to interact on this level. She and I have emailed and talked on the phone more this week than ever before. So fun!

I added "French Poodle" to a number of products besides the shoes...

And like icing on the cake, "French Poodle" has gained popularity in a very short amount of time. Cammi and I loved her, but then to have others love her just as much is SO rewarding.

I think Cammi has become my creative muse, because since the collaboration that brought about "French Poodle" my mind has been flooded with so many other designs that I've had a hard time keeping up. I've had to resort to doing really rough sketches in my sketchbook of ideas as they come while still finalizing other designs. It's like Cammi's idea opened up the flood gates for my own creativity. Here's what has come flowing out just this week (and these are only the finished designs):

"Dinner in Paris"


"Peacock Feathers"


"Chocolate Candy"


"Aqua Duck"

Yeah, it's definitely been a "WOW" week around here. Now it's time for me to go back to working on more designing as well as learning Dreamweaver and web design so I can improve my own website. Whew!

To see all my designs, click the image below:

Click the box above to follow me on Twitter

Glads and Cannas

Summer, despite the heat, has its treats. Two such treats are the gladiolus and the canna lilies that bloom profusely around the garden here at Rosehaven Cottage. Both are very carefree in our conditions (which makes me a very happy gardener).

Glads like the dense soil we have here and don't mind the dryness of our late spring and summer seasons. As long as the winter and early spring rains happen to get the glads started, then they're happy with just the little misting they get from the drip-mist irrigation system I water our garden with. Like many of the bearded iris, glads also have a neat pearlescent sheen to them that make them sparkle in the summer light. If you click on the purple glads above to enlarge the photo you might be able to see the little sparkles.

Canna lilies are very happy in our climate as long as they get lots of sun and have wet feet. There aren't many plants that like those conditions so I was happy to find that cannas like the boggy full sun area around the pond in the back garden. Even though they die back in December and look like they'll never come back, they always do.

I discovered this year that I can plant canna lilies in terra cotta pots that sit on bricks IN the pond. The yellow spotted canna pictured above is my latest acquisition that is growing in a pot in the pond. The bricks raise up the pot so only the bottom stays wet while the top is out of the water with blue mexican beach rocks on the top to keep the soil safe from critters. I am so pleased with the results that I'm contemplating starting a canna collection in my pond. Right now I only have three varieties of cannas around the garden with only one in the pond so I have a way to go before I can call it a "collection". Now the only issue is deciding which variety I want next.