Austria

Canna 'Austria'

Canna 'Austria'

syns Canary Bird, Lemon Zest, Richard Wallace, Souvenir de Jeanne
(Italian Group)(Heritage Group)

Origin SPRENGER Karl
Parentage Madame Crozy x flaccida Le Roi
Height Medium, over 3ft/90cm
Foliage Green
Form Upright
Flower Yellow
Blooming Good bloomer
Flowering Early summer to frosts
Tillering Prolific
Awards RHS Award of Merit, 1896
Available Specialist

Introduced by Karl Sprenger of Messrs Dammann et Cie, Italy in 1893, Canna 'Austria' is a medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, oblong shaped, acute apex, upright habit; oval main stems, coloured green; clusters of flowers are cupped, self-coloured yellow, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, labellum is yellow with red spots, stamen is yellow with red spots, style is yellow, petals green, fully self-cleaning, good bloomer, flowers in early summer until frosts, blooms open in the early morning; seed is sterile, pollen is low fertile; rhizomes are long and thin, coloured white; tillering is prolific.

Canna 'Austria' was awarded RHS Award of Merit, 1896; is available from specialist growers; breeding is Madame Crozy x flaccida 'Le Roi'.

Announced along with C. 'Italia', they caused much interest as their large flowers were considered to be a major breakthrough.

References

RHS Award of Merit (J. Veitch 1896)

RHS Journal of 1896-7

Theophilus Hatfield, Garden & Forest, 1896, 1890's
Canna 'Austria', has also been noticed as bearing still larger flowers of similar form to Italia, pure yellow, with the exception of scarlet pencilings on the centre petals.

Peter Henderson & Co, Catalogue 1897
The claim of Italia to the title of Orchid-flowered is not better than this to "Lily flowered". It is, in truth, a giant, with flowers six to eight inches across, a giant in its superb growth, young plants set out in June forming dense spreading clumps, with 20 to 25 stems six feet high, and every stem surmounted with a spike of its glorious, golden, lily-like flowers, a giant in its grand foliage, a magnificent giant in its every attribute.

RHS Journal of 1898-9

RHS Journal of 1899-1900

Railton & Co., Australia, 1900-1903
Pure canary yellow; fine large open flowers, with but few traces of reddish brown dots in the centre of the two inside petals.

RHS Journal of 1908-9
Featured in 1908 outdoor trials at Wisley. Orchid-flowered, green foliage, yellow flowers marked with red.

Das Geschlecht der Canna, by Árpád Mühle

Austria. (Dam.) height of 120 cm. Leaves cyan, stature sumptuously. Flowers very largely, kanarien yellow, in the Centrum brown roth get subroutines felt.

Cassells Dictionary of Practical Gardening, Walter P. Wright, 1910
Italian, or Orchid-like canary yellow with brown dotted flowers. Light green foliage.

L. Clause Catalogue, Spring 1929
Austria. – Feuillage vert. Fleur jaune piqueté de carmin foncé. Haut. 1 m. 50.

Tropical Plants and Gardening, H.F. MacMillan, 1935
Lemon yellow, orchid flowered

Westover Nursery, Clayton, USA. Catalog 1939
Austria. Yellow and red.

Standardized Plant Names, 1942
Confirmed that the plant name is currently in use.

Tropical Planting and Gardening, H.F. MacMillan, 5th Edition, 1954
Orchid-flowered, lemon-yellow

Ian Cooke, The Gardeners Guide to Growing Cannas

M. Sprenger, a partner in the nursery of Messrs Dammann near Naples, crossed C. flaccida with C. ‘Madame Crozy’ to produce C. ‘Italia’. ‘Atlanta’, ‘America’, ‘Austria’, ‘Burgundia’, ‘Allemannia’, ‘Britannia’ followed from the same breeding programme.

Claines Canna Collection 2006

Summary: Canna 'Austria' can be identified correctly against other solid yellows with red/orange spots by its two upper "petals" having pale orange spotting, with upward pointing lemon yellow flowers and finally by the upright bright green foliage. An old heritage Canna that has stood the test of time. Size: Medium Flower: Lemon yellow with cupped staiminodes, the upper two having pale orange spotting on lemeno. Foliage: Bright green, upright leaves. Origin: Introduced by Sprenger (Dammann & Co. of Naples, Italy) in 1893. The rhizomes indicate a C. flaccida heritage. Awards: Won the RHS Award of Merit in 1896. It was also entered in the 1906/7 RHS Canna indoor and outdoor trials. 

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