Canna Soleil d'Or - Indian shot

Canna 'Soleil d'Or' is a medium-sized variety, distinguished by its brilliant golden yellow flowering. It is a fast growing rhizomatous perennial that produces a bountiful tuft of large, generous, and abundant green foliage in spring. Throughout summer, it bears large clusters of flowers similar to gladioli. It captivates with its exotic appearance and rich flowering, which beautifully complements foliage plants. It will look wonderful around a pond or in a sunny border on a patio. It is frost-sensitive, so its base should be brought indoors before heavy frosts, just like dahlias in regions with cold winters. This perennial loves heat and sunlight, and thrives in moist but well-drained rich soil.

Canna 'Soleil d'Or' is a horticultural hybrid, belonging to a large group of hybrid cannas of unknown or complex lineage, all of which originate from tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. This plant belongs to the Cannaceae family and is in the same group as gingers and bananas. In spring, its thick and knotty rhizome develops a dense clump measuring 120cm (47in) in height and 50cm (20in) in width, composed of numerous large entire leaves with sheathing bases that form false stems. The leaf blades are a medium green with a hint of blue. From July to October, thin floral stems appear in the centre. The asymmetrical flowers are clustered in dense spikes and display bright golden yellow petals. The vegetation dries up and disappears at the end of the season, while the plant enters dormancy. Canna rhizomes are sensitive to frost and prefer to spend the winter in relatively dry soil. Leaving them in the ground during winter is only possible in our mildest regions, with a thick protective mulch.

Hybrid cannas are majestic and colourful plants, ideal for adding interest to the back of borders for taller varieties, or for brightening up patios and balconies for more compact varieties. Growing them is within everyone's reach. Consider planting them in dense flower beds of about ten bulbs of the same variety, or by mixing green and purple foliage. Use them to embellish a corner of a pond alongside colocasias, ferns, and ground cover species like helxines or creeping golden lysimachias. Canna 'Soleil d'Or' can be used to create stunning exotic-looking container displays, alongside agapanthus, amaranths, and cosmos. It forms a beautiful combination with a banana plant or bamboo. Grow this plant like a dahlia. Dig up the rhizomes before the frost arrives and replant them in spring.