Who can na' love a canna? I never used to like them, much less love them. As a child, I used to see them growing in the middle of great expanses of green lawns, with no other companion plants, and thought them so out of place, so, well, ugly. They were often used to hide something ugly, like pipes sticking up out of the ground, or an unsightly foundation. When a neighbor offered me canna bulbs a few years back, I was hesitant. She was desperate. Canna bulbs, you see, multiply like crazy, and they are BIG, so therefore hard to store: When the next spring comes, you wonder where you are going to plant them all--that's when you start giving them away.

I couldn't turn down a desperate neighbor, and so I ended up with canna bulbs, some green-leafed and some in this lovely, bronze. I struggled with where to plant them, because they don't really work with miniature roses, or shrub roses, or any other roses, which I have lots of. They need sun, which I don't have lots of. After a couple of years of ugly plantings, I hit on the idea of siting them next to gold and bronze day lilies. They seemed happy. I was happy. This year, however, I saw bronze cannas paired with sunflowers, which was stunning, and also the bronzes planted in huge containers with green-leafed elephant ears--Wow! Both were underplanted with begonias, sweet potato vines, and other hot or dark colors. I loved both plantings. Bulb digging is not far off--and I can na' wait to see if these canna wonders have multiplied.