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Canna flaccida

This plant is not currently for sale.  This is an archive page preserved for informational use. 

Golden Canna is a beautiful, wet-loving, long lived herbaceous perennial plant and is the only yellow Canna. It was originally described by William Bartram, who found it blooming along the rivers of coastal Georgia. It occurs naturally in wetlands, including marshes, savannas, and the edges of ponds and lakes, on the coastal plain from South Carolina to Florida and Texas. Golden Canna is an emergent plant that only needs to have “wet feet” (damp soil) and usually grows up to 4 feet tall. Leaves are narrow, blue green, about 2 feet long by 6 inches wide, wrapping around the stem at the base. Flowers are strongly yellow, and fragrant, borne in clusters at the tops of sturdy stalks. Each flower head sends out one flower in the evening which then dies in the heat of the following day. The floral display can continue for a few months (August to October). The green, warty, immature seed pods are also attractive, and mature to a dry brown full of 1/3-inch, round, dry seeds. Golden Canna thrives in consistently damp to saturated, acid to circumneutral soils, and will spread both by seed and rhizomes under ideal conditions. It tolerates partial shade, but it grows best under full-sun conditions. Canna species have an amazing number of uses around the world including agricultural uses (see Wikipedia entry). Interestingly, Canna flaccida is used to extract undesirable pollutants in wetlands because of its high tolerance for contaminants. A planting of Golden Canna at the edge of a pond adds wonderful, low maintenance color and structure to the landscape.

Key Info

Scientific Name: Canna flaccida Salisb.
Common Names: Golden Canna, Bandanna of the Everglades
Light Requirement:
Moisture Requirement:
Bloom Times: , , ,
Flower Color: Bright yellow
Special Characteristics: , ,

Additional Info

Habit: Clumps of 3- to 4-foot stalks with large leaves in spiral arrangement, topped by 3-4 bright yelow flowers in late summer
Height: 4'
Spread: 2.5'
Soil Conditions: Moist to wet soils from heavy clay to sandy loam
Leaves: Leaves up to 2' long by 6" across, bright green, glaucus, lance-shaped, tapering at the base, which wraps around the stem in spiral arrangement.
Flowers (or reproductive structures: Bright yellow flowers, maturing in late summer, up to 3 inches across and lightly fragrant. The showy, iris-like "petals" consist of a modified style and three modified stamens, while the three actual petals and 3 sepals are fused to form a tube at the base of the inflorescence. The flowers emerge in the evening and decline in the heat of the following day.
Fruit: The fruit is a 3-part, large, roughly textured capsule containing round, dark seeds which ripen in October.
Natural Distribution: Wet ditches; freshwater marshes; swamp margins
USDA Hardiness Zone: 8-10
USDA Wetland Indicator Status in NC: OBL
Pollination: Nocturnal moths
Wildlife Connections: Foliage serves as host to Skipper caterpillars; the 4-foot plants significantly shade and cool water, protect aquatic life of all kinds (fish, insects, amphibians).
Propagation: By seeds or division.