Canna Felix Ragout - Indian shot

Canna 'Felix Ragout' is an old variety that is now difficult to find in commerce. This medium-sized cultivar stands out with its wide, extremely bright petals. The flowers boast shades of light and vivid yellow, randomly painted with white around a throat sometimes enhanced with light salmon-orange. This rhizomatous perennial will flower until autumn. It needs a sunny spot and moist soil, either in a flower bed or near a pond. It is not very hardy, but it can be grown somewhat like a dahlia. It is stunning in flower beds and magnificent in large pots on patios.

Canna 'Felix Ragout' is a fairly old horticultural variety, resulting from crossbreeding between C. edulis, or C. indica, a large perennial native to the tropical and subtropical regions of South America, with C. flaccida, which has wider flowers and spectacular variegation, native to the wetlands of the southeastern United States. All these plants belong to the Cannaceae family, and to the same group as gingers and banana trees. In spring, its thick and knotty rhizome develops a clump at least 70cm (28in) wide, composed of large, entire, green leaves, with a sheathing base forming a false stem. From July until the first frost, thin floral stems measuring 1.2m (4ft) tall appear in the centre. The asymmetrical flowers are grouped in the terminal part, displaying wide petals of a light lemon-yellow, irregularly variegated with white. The staminodes, which are false stamens resembling small petals in the centre of the flower, are fully developed in this variety. They are often tinged with light orange, with the throat sometimes speckled with salmon orange.

Hybrid Cannas are majestic and colourful plants, ideal for the back of flower beds. Consider planting a densely packed flower bed with about ten bulbs of the same variety, or by mixing green and purple foliage. Grasses, heleniums, and crocosmias are also good companions for cannas in warm colours, ranging from yellow to red and all shades of orange. 'Felix Ragout' can be used to create stunning exotic-looking container displays. Grow this plant like a dahlia. Dig up the rhizomes before the frost arrives and replant them in spring.