Canna Bangkok aka King of Siam

Canna Bangkok, aka King of Siam, is one of the oldies of the variegated cannas. It features green leaves with white splashes along the veins. The bi-coloured flowers are a beautiful brilliant bright yellow that features a single white stripe across the centre of each of its petals that overall forms a white cross. The mahogany throat is enticing, and so are the mahogany red buds.

It was cultivated by 1923 as an ancient variegated canna and grows up to 1.4 metres tall in my summer garden.

Confusingly also referred to as Striped Beauty, Christ’s Light, Nirvana, Minerva, and sometimes marketed as C. indica variety, which is inaccurate.

When first planted, water sparingly so that the canna plant can get its roots down into the soil. If watered too often, the new roots forming will drown and die, forcing the canna rhizome to go brown and rot.