The master is found in limitation. And writing a lot is considerably easier than writing a little. Condensation and completeness are therefore an art when it comes to any text. As for the book The World of Cannas by Keith Hayward, published earlier this year, this combination has been a success.

Keith Hayward has been the holder of the National Collection of Cannes in the United Kingdom since 2001, a position overseen by Plant Heritage. From this position, he knows what he's writing about. The Canna genus includes a number of species and a much larger number of cultivars. Books about this subtropical plant, which is native to the American continent, are rare. The list of references at the back of this book lists only four serious works published between 1867 and 2024. Perhaps the best-known is the 2001 book by Ian Cooke, entitled The Gardener's Guide to Growing Canna, now out of print.

Compared to other plants like snowdrops or dahlias, this is not so commonly grown. Canna is an ornamental plant with a very long history of service to humans. In his book, Hayward writes that three thousand years ago, Canna already served various functions in humans. In addition to the rhizomes that served as food, the dried, spherical, rock-hard seeds were used as components of musical instruments. Seeds have also been found in ancient graves. In this book, Hayward explains which diseases and pests attack this crop, but also devotes space to the section on registration and naming. There you can read that the KAVB (Dutch Association of Plant Breeders) is the international registration authority for Canna. In the Ornamental Plants Database, available via the website www.kavb.nl. He also explains how plant breeders' rights work and what a trademark entails.

Canna is above all a garden plant, interest in which is increasing. The warming climate poses no problem for this rhizomatous plant. which is Understandable, considering it is a subtropical crop. There is no shortage of variation within canna, as Hayward demonstrates in this book. A selection of 150 cultivars is reviewed. The variation in canna is not only in the flower colours, but also in those of the leaves. And then there are also short and very tall selections. In all cases, Hayward states, it is a garden plant that can withstand a stormy weather. The sturdy stems are not easily blown over; quite the opposite. The author devotes a separate chapter to the aforementioned edibility, including a recipe from Colombia for its use as finger food.