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Canna Warscewiczii Red Purple Leaf Seeds
Packet of 20+ seeds from this super tough and versatile plant!
It was only a couple years ago that I discovered that this particular species is named after Jozef Warszewicz Ritter von Rawicz (1812-1866), a Polish botanist, plant and animal collector, and gardener who spent many years collecting in South America.
I originally incorrectly thought it was just a coloured form of Canna indica but now understand it is a separate breed altogether.
Anyway, I can see why Jozef liked it!
Mediums sized plant with large accented red purple leaves. They produce lots of pretty little red flowers and make a great little hiding place for the frogs.
Super easy to grow and if you do the following you should get ~100% strike rate. Just firmly hold the seed and cut into the shell in one place with nail clippers, just 1mm deep so you let water in without damaging the kernel.
Alternatively you can rub one spot on the concrete to sand town and edge or even use a steak knife or the corner of a file to do the same thing.
In all honesty it doesn’t really matter.
Crack the shell a tiny little bit, then stick it in a cup or bowl of warm water.
Change the water daily until the seeds start to root, normally takes 4-7days.
Once rooted wack them in a pot as per normal, about 1cm deep, or even just plant in place in the garden.
You can just shove the unscarified seeds in the mud of your dam or creek bed and they will grow for sure. That is how I originally used to do it, but it can take up to a year for the seed to strike due to the super hard “shot” like shell.
They really like wet feet so any boggy slushy patches in the garden where nothing else will grow, next to a pond, dam, fountain, creek, or near a tap or water tank and they will really take off.
That said they don’t mind the dry either once they have started to grow.
Pretty much once there are more than two or three shoots or a few months of growth they are pretty indestructible.
Had the kangaroos, chooks and horses eat them off at ground level a few times and they just bounce back from the tuberous root with the next lot of rain or a little water. That said, don’t stress, these guys are not a weed issue as the roots are pretty shallow and as long as you get the large tubers they can be transplanted or removed entirely really easily.
They honestly do not need any special care at all, and are great as a low maintenance border or a colourful hedge.
If you cut them back often, you can get meters of green mulch from them every couple months, or if left alone they make a nice patch of green and purple, topped with lovely red flowers.
Grown by us organically, no nasties, no chems, no problems!!!
