City of Portland

Canna 'City of Portland'

Canna 'City of Portland'

syn Orchid

(French Group)(Heritage Group)

Origin WINTZER Antoine

Parentage Mrs. Alfred F. Conard x open

Height Medium, over 3ft/90cm

Foliage Green

Form Spreading

Flower Pink

Blooming Outstanding bloomer

Flowering Early summer to frosts

Tillering Average

Available General

Introduced by Antoine Wintzer of The Conard & Jones Co., West Grove, Pennsylvania, USA in 1916, Canna 'City of Portland' is a medium sized cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, white margin, spreading habit; oval main stems, coloured green; triangular flower stalks, coloured green; clusters of flowers are open, jasper-red (a pink) (RHS 39A) with a narrow yellow (RHS 7A) margin, staminodes are medium size, edges frilled, stamen is gold marked, petals red, not self-cleaning, outstanding bloomer, flowers in early summer until frosts, blooms open in the early morning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type, capsules round; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white and pink; tillering is average.

Canna 'City of Portland' is generally available; breeding is Mrs. Alfred F. Conard x open.

References

Gardeners Chronicle of America

Mr. Wintzer is the originator, and the Conard & Jones Company the introducer of such varieties as ‘The President’, Mrs. Alfred F. Conard’, ‘City of Portland’, ‘American Beauty’, ‘Statue of Liberty’, Wintzer’s Colossal and of ‘Sears (?) Queen’, ‘Flag of Truce’ and a host of others

Krider Nurseries, Indiana, USA, 1936

CITY OF PORTLAND. Grows 3 ft. Green leaves, pink flowers.

G.W. Park Seed Co, SC, USA, Catalog 1939

CITY OF PORTLAND, 3½' One of the best pinks, beautiful deep rose-pink trusses and fine green foliage.

Burgess Seed and Plant Co, Catalogue 1939

CITY OF PORTLAND. Green foliage. Glowing shade of pink; immense trusses. 3½ feet.

Burgess Seed and Plant Co, Catalogue 1941

CITY OF PORTLAND. Green foliage. Glowing shade of pink; immense trusses. 3½ feet.

Standardized Plant Names, 1942

Confirmed that the plant name is currently in use.

Garden Flowers in Color by Daniel J. Foley

Averaging 4 feet in height, with clear rose-pink flowers.

Burpee, USA, Catalog 1946

City of Portland. Pink 3½ ft.

Olds' Seeds, Catalogue 1947

3 feet. Large flowers of purest satiny-pink. Compact green foliage.The best pink Canna. Each, 20c; 3 for 50c; 12 for $1.80, postpaid.

Montgomery Ward, USA, Catalogue 1949

CITY OR PORTLAND. Medium growing. Best pink variety grown. Deep rose-pink flowers against dark green foliage.

Sears Garden Book, 1951

Pink blooms, green foliage.

Dr. Khoshoo & Dr. I. Guha: Evolution of Cultivated Canna 1966

x generalis, tall (80-160cm), foliage green, narrow staminodia (3-5 cm) self coloured. In the collection of the Royal Agri-Horticultural Society , Alipore, Calcutta, India.

Henry Field's Catalogue, 1969

CITY OF PORTLAND. Huge, peach-pink blossoms topping rich green foliage. Reaches a height of 31/2 feet.

Spring Hill Nurseries, Tipp City, Ohio, USA. Catalogue 1971

CITY OF PORTLAND - Gorgeous large coral-pink set off by striking green foliage. A vogorous grower reaching 5 ft.

Spring Hill Nurseries, Tipp City, Ohio, USA. Catalogue 1972

CITY OF PORTLAND. Gorgeous large coral-pink. Green foliage. 5 ft.

Kelly's Plant World, California, USA. 1989

Flowers medium size, orange-pink. Green foliage. Height 6-8 ft.

Cannas for the Florida Landscape, by B. Tjia and R. J. Black, 1990

City of Portland, flowers deep pink, foliage green, height 4.0' (120 cm).

RHS New Dictionary of Gardening, 1992

To 100cm, strong grower, compact; fls rosy-pink.

Louisiana Nursery Catalog, 1996

Beautiful, strong growing, large, landscape specimen to 4ft.with pretty salmon coloured flowers

Hart Canna, 2000, Internet October 2000

See ‘Orchid’. Flowers jasper red with canary yellow edge. Leaves green. Tall

Aaron’s Bulb Farm Internet October, 2000

Pink flowers, green leaves, 6-9 feet, 5 for $5.95

Old House Garden, Ann Arbor, Michigan Internet, November, 2000

Around 1925. Coral-pink? Rosy-peach? City’s colour is hard to describe, but gorgeous! A magnificent new variety in 1916. Green leaves 4-5 feet

Dutch Gardens, Holland Internet, Nov.2000

Another beautiful and rewarding variety. Cannas are frequently used as a center planting in large terrace containers surrounded by other low growing plants. Height 3 to 4 feet. Top size rhizomes: 2-3 eyes, 3 for $4.25

Canna Handbook, Keith Hayward. Edition 1.06. © September 2000

Originally described as jasper-red with yellow edge, it currently is taken to be a dull pink with yellow edge, similar to, if not the same as ‘Orchid’

Ian Cooke, The Gardeners Guide to Growing Cannas

(M) This familiar cultivar gives rich salmon flowers with yellow flushing and a matching penciled edge. The whole effect is quite bright and gaudy. It is utterly reliable and very generous in its quantity of flower. However, it is untidy as dead flowers do not fall. Although widely available, it is a brash, harsh colour and there are many better Cannas available. In Britain, it is widely grown as ‘Orchid’, which is also a registered name. ‘City of Portland’ was originally raised by Wintzer and described as a ‘magnificent new variety’ in 1916. The formal registration refers to jasper-red flowers, but most stocks of this are a clear pink adding even further to the confusion. However, by 1921, Buist’s catalogue describes it as ‘bright rosy pink’

Hart Canna, 2001, Catalogue

Syn. ‘Orchid’. Medium height, green foliage, frilly pink rather untidy flowers edged yellow. Whatever you buy in a garden centre often turns out to be ‘City of Portland’. £5.85 for 3 rhizomes.

Podgora Gardens, Sonja Mrsich, North Island, New Zealand. Catalogue

Blend of salmon and rose-pink with fine line gold edging. 90cm.

French Grown Stock

1.2m. Green foliage. Dark rose flowers.

Podgora Gardens Catalogue, 2004

Blend of salmon and rose-pink with fine line gold edging. 90cm.

KAVB International Canna Checklist, September 2004

Flowers jasper-red (RHS 39A), narrow canary-yellow edge (RHS 7A), leaves green, height over 80 cm.

Claines Canna Collection 2006

Summary: Hybridised by Wintzer in 1916, this is a medium sized, green foliage plant with distinctive jasper-red (a shade of pink) flowers with a yellow edge. Size: Medium Flower: Jasper-red with yellow edge. Foliage: Green foliage. Origin: Hybridised by Antoine (Leon) Wintzer, Pennsylvania, USA, in 1916. 

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