Durban in Sepia
by J McCombie
Title
Durban in Sepia
Artist
J McCombie
Medium
Photograph - Untouched
Description
This is from the 1980's wave of variegated leaf cannas. "Durban" is an outrageously colourful 4-7' tall plant. The new foliage emerges with dark red stripes highlighted with pink, bronze, and pale yellow striping and ages to a bronze-green with yellow stripes. In addition to the dramatic foliage, the plant is topped from late spring through late summer with stalks of large brilliant orange-red flowers for a combination that would make even the most flamboyant designer blush. This plant is a show stopper.
Canna 'Durban' makes a great garden plant but does not multiply as fast as the other variegated leaf types. In England and Europe, this plant is sometimes called "Red Durban" to distinguish it from another plant they call Durban, which the United States goes by the name "Phasion". Some people say it is the same as Canna Phasion but it is distinct in flower.
Canna (or canna lily, although not a true lily) is a genus of nineteen species of flowering plants. The closest living relations to cannas are Zingiberaceae (gingers), Musaceae (bananas), Marantaceae, Heliconiaceae, Strelitziaceae, etc. It is a perennial growing to between 20" and 8', depending on the variety. It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender. The flowers are hermaphrodite.
The seeds are small, globular, black pellets, hard and heavy enough to sink in water. They resemble shotgun pellets giving rise to the plant's common name of Indian Shot. They are hard enough to shoot through wood and still survive and later germinate. According to the BBC "The story goes that during the Indian Mutiny of the 19th century, soldiers used the seeds of a Canna Indica when they ran out of bullets." The seeds are also widely used for jewellery and are also used as the mobile elements of the kayamb, a musical instrument from Reunion, as well as the hosho, a gourd rattle from Zimbabwe, where the seeds are known as "hota" seeds.
Although a plant of the tropics, most cultivars have been developed in temperate climates and are easy to grow in most countries of the world as long as they can enjoy at least 6-8 hours average sunlight during the summer, and are moved to a warm location for the winter.
Uploaded
December 22nd, 2015
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