All-America Selections (AAS) Winner 2013
It's a bright, beautiful, economical new day for canna loversSouth Pacific™ Scarlet is here to transform those hot, sunny, moist soils with big orangy-red blooms on compact, dark-leaved plants. And it's going to do it from SEED, for just pennies a plant.
The first-ever top quality canna from seed, South Pacific™ Scarlet is a marvel of a plant, with giant 4-inch blooms that begin early on compact, well-branched, very vigorous plants. It stands up to frost better than older varieties too, exhibits great uniformity (meaning that all the plants will be nearly the same size and bloom at the same time, so you can have a neat-looking hedge or foundation), and it tolerates heat, rain, and damp soils beautifully. Ah, what's not to love about this gem.
Effortlessly winning an All-America Selections Flower Award, South Pacific™ Scarlet is ready to grace your sunniest garden spots. It's a tropical, so it remains evergreen in frost-free areas and will return each spring in zones 8-11 (it likes our zone 7b garden too, but if you live north of its hardiness zone, just put it in containers and bring it into the garage for winter). The large, handsome, deep green leaves are paddle-shaped and held almost straight up, creating a lovely look in any setting. And the flowers, which begin as soon as the temperatures top about 77 degrees Fahrenheit and continue well into autumn in many climates, attract bees and compliments to the garden.
Expect this canna to reach 4 to 5 feet high in the garden, somewhat smaller in containers and in short-season climates. A single plant will send up about half a dozen flowering stems, each topped with a crown of 4-inch flowers that combine scarlet and orange tones with flames of gold and cream at the base. Like all cannas, it needs full sunshine, plenty of heat, and consistently moist, even damp soil. Most of us have a boggy patch in our garden just crying out for such a plant.
South Pacific™ Scarlet has also proven more tolerant of a touch of frost than other canna varieties. For many of us, the first frosty night is an aberration, often occurring early in fall, and it's such a shame when it nips back all the tropicals and tenders, only to be replaced by warm weather for weeks. South Pacific™ Scarlet should do a good job standing up to this first touch of frost, extending canna season in your fall garden.
This canna is easy to grow from seed. For the longest season, sow it indoors, lightly covered with germinating mix, at a temperature of 68 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. When the seedlings are large enough to handle safely, transplant them into separate pots, so they have plenty of root room and don't become a tangled mass. Then, when all danger of frost is past in your spring garden, set them outdoors, spacing them about 18 to 24 inches apart in the garden, or one to a large, deep pot.
If you live in canna's hardiness range and have hot spring weather, consider giving South Pacific™ Scarlet a bit of afternoon shade. Otherwise, full sun is fine. This plant stands up to just about anything except drought, so make sure the soil stays moist. The more you water, the fuller and lusher the plant will grow, and the more flowers you'll enjoy.
South Pacific™ Scarlet is that rare thing, a true breeding breakthrough. Now you can have a big, gorgeous canna display for mere pennies. We're delighted to make this winner available to Park gardeners this season. Order yours today, before it sells out.
