Canna

Canna x generalis, the garden canna, is a rhizomatous perennial grown for bold paddle-shaped leaves eighteen to thirty-six inches long and spikes of large lipped flowers in red, orange, yellow and pink. It reaches two to six feet in a season, and the hybrid group draws on species native to Florida and the American tropics as well as South America.

Buy rhizomes from a reputable source and discard any plant whose leaves emerge streaked or mottled: canna yellow mottle and yellow streak viruses are widespread in the trade, pass through infected rhizomes and divisions, and cannot be cured. Rolled and chewed leaves are a different thing entirely — those hold Brazilian skipper caterpillars, which use canna as their larval host.