Canna Hybridization: Pollen Compatibility and Seedling Variation

Understanding Your Cannas

• Yellow canna: Sterile hybrid—no viable pollen or ovules. Produces no seeds.
• Salmon canna: Fertile—produces viable seeds.

Cross-Pollination Experiment

Applying yellow canna's pollen to salmon canna may or may not work. The yellow's pollen could be sterile too. Only way to know: try it.

1. Collect pollen from yellow canna anthers (if present).
2. Transfer to salmon canna stigma when receptive (sticky, shiny).
3. Tag pollinated flowers; allow pods to mature.
4. Harvest seeds; nick hard coat, soak 2 days, sow warm.
5. Bloom in 1–2 years; evaluate results.

What to Expect

• If cross works: Seedlings will be hybrids—variable colors, forms.
• Most will be intermediate; some may revert to ancestral types.
• Sterile hybrids common in cannas—many named cultivars don't set seed.
• Division of rhizomes remains only way to clone exact plants.

Cannas are excellent for breeding experiments—fast growth, showy results, easy seed germination.