Canna 'Rigoletto'
(Italian Group)(Heritage Group) 
Origin Howard & Smith
Parentage unknown
Height Medium, over 3ft/90cm
Foliage Green
Form Spreading
Flower Yellow
Flowering Early summer to frosts
Tillering Prolific
Available Specialist
Introduced by Howard & Smith Nursery, USA in 1930's, Canna 'Rigoletto' is a medium sized Italian Group cultivar; green foliage, oval shaped, acute apex, spreading habit; oval main stems, coloured green; flowers are cupped, self-coloured yellow, throat some soft-pink mottling, staminodes are large, edges ruffled, stamen is yellow, petals yellow, fully self-cleaning, flowers in early summer until frosts, blooms open in the early morning; fertile both ways, not self-pollinating or true to type; rhizomes are thick, up to 3 cm in diameter, coloured white; tillering is prolific.
References
Henry Field's Catalogue, 1969
RIGOLETTO. Pure canary yellow shading lighter yellow as the flowers develop. Bright green foliage.
Cannas for the Florida Landscape, by B. Tjia and R. J. Black, 1990
Grand Opera Series, Rigoletto, flowers bright yellow.
Hart Canna, 2000, Internet October 2000
Flowers canary yellow, passing to pale lemon as the flower develops. Leaves green. Tall.
Canna Handbook, Keith Hayward. Edition 1.06. © September 2000
Wayside gardens. One of the “Grand Opera series”. Yellow/orange streaked flowers which remain closed and tulip shaped. Dark green foliage covered with bronze or purple streaks and lines. Tall, to 2m.
Ian Cooke, The Gardeners Guide to Growing Cannas
(M) Acclaimed in the past as the ‘finest yellow Canna grown’. It has huge, frilly canary-yellow blooms – show stoppers.
Aloha Tropicals, Internet October, 2001
(as ‘Rigoletta’) Light yellow flowers with a slightly spotted red throat. A vigorous variety sure to please. Height 4 to 5 feet. $8.95
Podgora Gardens, Sonja Mrsich, North Island, New Zealand. Catalogue
Pretty soft, creamy-primrose. 100cm.
KAVB International Canna Checklist, September 2004
Wayside Gardens; flowers canary-yellow, passing to pale lemon-yellow as the flower develops, leaves green, height over 80 cm.
Claines Canna Collection 2006
Summary: Said to be the finest yellow canna ever grown. It is one of the Grand Opera Series, and has large, lovely, clear, canary-yellow, ruffled flowers with some freckling at the throat. This is supported by medium green foliage.
Size: Medium, normally over 3.3m (4'4")
Flower: Canary-yellow ruffled flowers with some freckling at the throat.
Foliage: Medium green foliage.
Origin: One of the Opera series of Canna bred by Howard and Smith Nursery of Los Angeles, USA in the 1930's.
Karchesky and Harris 2006
Large lovely clear canary-yellow ruffled flowers with some freckling at the throat. Medium green foliage. Historically said to be the finest yellow cannas ever grown. One of the Grand Opera Series. Taller medium height.
Dale McDonell
One response to “Canna ‘Rigoletto’”
Unknown's avatarD.McD. Australia | July 22, 2009 at 1:29 pm | Reply
Hi Malcolm,this looks suspiciously like Canna 'Burbank', which disappeared from US catalogues prior to 'Rogoletto' making a miraculous appearance. I believe this is yet another older Canna that became a victim of marketing hype and was renamed.As far as I can determine, (using the criteria that they appear all-yellow from a distance and are free of largish solid, patches of red overlay); there have only ever been three yellow Italian-type cannas raised: 'Austria', 'Asia'. and 'Burbank'. All three have varying degrees and shades of reddish markings on the base of the main staminodes. The first two are very similar but their foliage differs in that 'Asia' grows with a more relaxed habit and lacks the tight, upright, slightly lanceolate foliage of 'Austria'. The bright lettuce green colour of 'Austria's' foliage is also distinctive. The US raised 'Burbank' is in a class of it's own. The flower heads are not as crowded and being better spaced, the blooms do not look at the sky as is the case with 'Austria' and to a lesser extent 'Asia', but look at the gardener. They are beautifully poised and last longer than those of the two raised in Italy. The foliage on 'Burbank' is broader than that of either 'Austria' or Asia' although 'Asia's' foliage is similarly coloured (mid-green)and poised to 'Burbank's' but not as opulent, being a bit smaller in leaf length and width.I have been looking in vain for some really good photographs of the so-called 'Rigoletto' growing in optimum conditions so that I could make a definitive judgement on the ID. To date I have not found any. It would be nice to see the habit of growth at mid-season.Dale
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