Canna Petit Poucet - Indian shot

Canna 'Petit Poucet' is an ideal variety for patios or balconies. This perennial rhizomatous plant offers a flamboyant flowering, but is more abundant in warm climates. Its rounded flowers are tightly packed on stout spikes. They have a variable appearance, with its bright yellow petals irregularly flecked with red. Its abundant and healthy foliage is a medium green. It likes heat and tolerates drought, but it will flower better in moist but well-drained soil, in full sun.

Canna 'Petit Poucet' is a horticultural creation, belonging to a large group of hybrid cannas of unknown or complex lineage, all of which are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. This plant belongs to the Cannaceae family, in the same group as gingers and bananas. In spring, its thick and knotted rhizome develops a dense clump measuring at least 40cm (16in), composed of numerous large entire leaves whose sheathing base forms a false stem. The thick and medium green leaves resemble those of banana plants. From July to the first frosts, thin floral stems, 55cm (22in) in height, appear in the centre. The asymmetrical flowers are grouped in dense spikes. The round blooms are composed of wide petals, prettily speckled with red on a bright yellow background. Each flower is different, and its centre is warmed by a more golden tone. At the end of the season, the flowers are followed by curious round fruits covered with thorns. These green capsules turn purplish and then brown. They contain fertile, black, very hard seeds. This variety thrives particularly well in warm, Mediterranean-type climates.

Hybrid cannas are majestic and colourful plants, ideal for adding spice to the back of flower beds or planted in large groups on a lawn. Their cultivation is accessible to all. Consider planting them in dense flower beds of about ten bulbs of the same variety, or by mixing green and purple foliage. It 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.