Indian Shot
Canna indica - The Indian Shot. A root hardy, clump forming, up to 2.4m tall (8 feet), slender stemmed, banana type plant with bright scarlet flowers, and very hard round 0.5cm seeds. They also propagate by producing creeping rhizomes, which send up new suckers.
Originally thought to come from South Africa, but most famous for growing in India. The story is that during an uprising in India, those loyal to the British were running out of ammunition. So they filled the barrels of their rifles with canna seed. Hence the name Indian Shot.
Like all Cannas they do best in a rich moist to wet soil, but this variety can flower in shade, which makes it easier to keep moist.
I got my Indian Shot plant from Ruxley Manor Garden Center at Sidcup in 1981, as it was the nearest thing to a banana I had seen for sale. I didn't buy it for the flowers, just the jungly foliage. The flowers were a definate bonus when they bloomed in late August.
I never have been that good at getting things in at the end of the season, so the Canna stayed in its pot, next to the house and took its chances.... It died !
Canna indica in flower Aug 1983
But, the next spring, when I emptied the pot out, there they were... healthy rhizomes, roots and suckers. It was herbacious!
In 2006 I have Canna indica all over the place, plus having sold and given away many young plants at school fetes etc. They are reliably hardy in Chalk as time shows, but they are not mulched at all, and this Canna grows its rhizomes on the surface, unlike many others. The only protection they get are the dead leaves and stalks, which I don't tidy up until March/April.
This is another Global warming indicator plant, as stated above, the first year the plant flowered in late August and flowered through to the frosts in October. However, over the years the flowering has steadily started earlier. This year, 2006, although the spring was very late, flowering started the first week in July, a full 7 to 8 weeks earlier than 1982.. Last year they were still flowering in November.
Canna against the North facing wall July 2006
Also to start with they did not produce seed. Then progressively, the earlier stems produced the Indian Shot seed, Today, 4th Aug 2006, the first fruit is already formed and will be ripe by September. In 2004 we had the first Canna seedlings appear in my famous propagating unit.... The gravel drive!
Seed pod with ripe Indian Shot seed
Seed harvest Nov 2006