The Final Canna Container Comparisons

I think this is about as good as they are going to get. From here on it's downhill. On a happiness scale of 1 - 10, I am about a 7 with these planters this year. I've learned that I must plant only aggressive growers with these big guys--no prissy little plants allowed next year!

May 10, 2007 - Freshly Planted

Take note of that little licorice plant(Helichrysum petiolare). It's the silver plant on the left.
Look at it now!
WOWZA! That baby took off like I've never seen licorice do before. The King coleus that was next to it, was completely overrun and died out. I removed the optic grass because it, too, was overrun. The orange nemesia died out early as it did in my home planter. As much as I love that bright orange color, I won't buy that one again.

Here's the other side of that container.

You may have noticed that there are no blooms -- this is the one I cut the blooms off because they were too tall. The poor Trop is still recovering from the hail storm last month that played havoc with the leaves. They are still all tattered and torn.

Here is the container on the opposite side of the same front entrance on the day it was planted.

The only difference is this one has the licorice on the opposite side and the left side has some Tradescantia pallida ‘Purpurea’ (Purple Heart). I moved the optic grass from the one above to this one, thinking that 2 of them would have a chance to grow and be visible.

Here it is today. Just look at how tall the Tropicanna Black is! I think it's about a foot taller than I would like it to be. But, hey, everything doesn't always work out exactly right. When I planted them, I did not realize that they grow taller than the original Tropicanna.

Here's the other side of this one. The 'Purple Heart' is nice when viewing this container close up. The optic grass really does not work. It's just too small. You win some, you lose some.









Here is one of two next to the dining room entrance. The peach begonia died right away. I think the frost killed it.

The plant blooming here is not the "Black". It's one of the original Tropicannas that I brought from home. I wish they were both blooming together. The licorice plant in this one did not get nearly as large. Probably because it's more shady here.

This container has the only Tropicanna black leaves with stripes. I suspect the leaves should be nearly solid black as the other three are.

I think the stripe is more interesting. I like it.