Canna Tropicanna Black ='Lon01'

Common name: Canna 'Tropicanna Black'

Description: Canna Tropicanna Black 'Lon01' is one of the most dramatically striking and boldly architectural of all cannas, a plant of extraordinary tropical presence and visual intensity that has become one of the most sought-after and widely acclaimed foliage plants available to British gardeners seeking to create an exotic, lush, or contemporary garden scheme of maximum impact. The enormous, paddle-shaped leaves are a deep, sumptuous, almost velvety burgundy-black to very dark chocolate-purple — one of the darkest and most richly saturated leaf colours achievable in any hardy or half-hardy garden plant — providing a brooding, theatrical, and deeply glamorous quality that commands attention and creates an immediate and powerful focal point in any planting scheme. The colouring is at its most intense and jewel-like in strong sunlight, where the near-black leaves develop a lustrous, almost iridescent quality that associates with extraordinary effectiveness alongside bright oranges, vivid reds, hot pinks, and lime greens, as well as providing an unrivalled foil for the fiery, richly coloured flowers that appear from midsummer onwards. The blooms themselves are a vivid, glowing orange-red to deep scarlet, carried on tall, strong stems well above the dramatic foliage in loose, open panicles, creating a breathtaking contrast of hot flower colour against near-black leaf that is one of the most talked-about and admired combinations in the summer garden. Tropicanna Black develops with impressive vigour and speed into large, imposing clumps of considerable stature, making it equally spectacular as a bold isolated specimen in a gravel or mixed border, as the centrepiece of a tropical or exotic planting scheme, or as a dramatic container specimen for a sunny terrace or courtyard where its extraordinary presence can be appreciated at close quarters throughout the summer months.

Other benefits: exceptionally dramatic near-black to deep burgundy foliage of outstanding colour intensity; vivid orange-red flowers providing a spectacular contrast to the dark leaves from midsummer onwards; fast-growing with impressive vigour; outstanding as a border specimen, in tropical and exotic planting schemes, and as a container plant; one of the most impactful foliage plants available for the summer garden

Wildlife attraction: hummingbird hawk-moths, bees, and other pollinating insects attracted to the nectar-rich flowers

Height & spread (approx.) at 10 years: 1.5m x 0.8m per season; dies back and is lifted annually in most UK regions

Position: full sun essential for deepest foliage colour, most vigorous growth, and best flowering performance; a warm, sheltered position with maximum sun exposure gives outstanding results; excellent in containers on a sunny terrace or courtyard

Soil pH: performs best in neutral to slightly acid, fertile, humus-rich soils; pH 6.0–7.0; in containers use a good quality, fertile loam-based compost enriched with well-rotted organic matter

Moisture: generous and consistent watering required throughout the growing season, particularly during hot, dry spells and when grown in containers; prefers consistently moist, fertile, humus-rich soil; feed regularly with a high-potash fertiliser during the growing season to encourage flowering; avoid waterlogging

Winter hardiness: not reliably frost hardy; rhizomes should be lifted after the first frosts of autumn, dried, and stored frost-free in barely damp compost or sand over winter; may be left in the ground in very mild, sheltered gardens in the south and west of England with a deep, dry mulch over the crown, but lifting is strongly recommended in most UK regions