CANNAS, CANNAS, BURNING BRIGHT

Red orange blossoms rise above golden, striped canna lily leaves on Project Plant's East State Street traffic island this year. The variegated canna lilies stand at the center of an exotic display that make this a site worth visiting.

Even on an overcast day the cannas and some other surprising plants in the garden near Bob Evans and the Amerihost Inn glow with color. And the canna cultivar getting lots of comment is suitably named 'Bengal Tiger.'

Christina Deshaies, head of Thyme and Again Gardening and Project Plant's contractor on all our gardens, got the cannas from Glasshouse Works of Stewart.

Glasshouse Works introduced 'Bengal Tiger' to the United States, importing it from KSG Farms in India some 30 years ago.

Glasshouse reported that our island piqued a lot of interest in 'Bengal Tiger.' The tiger in the middle of the island got even more stripes thanks to tall, thin stalks of ornamental millet 'Purple Majesty' interplanted with the cannas.

Deep purple leaves and lighter, narrow plumes contrasted with the glowing cannas leaves. A low mass of purple leaves -- Alternanthera 'Gail's Choice' -- framed the lilies.

Another unusual plant here this year was Red Pineapple, Ananus lucida 'Red Pineapple.' The Red Pineapples are the spiky mahogany-colored foilage that punctuate the east and west ends of the garden. Thyme and Again also got these from Glasshouse Works.

Encircling the pineapple spikes were perhaps the most mysterious plants on the island: Salvia argentia, a circle of soft, silvery broad leaves with ruffled edges. 'Purple Wave' petunias and 'Homestead Purple' verbena swirled at the far ends of the garden.

In the midst of these unusual plants, Thyme and Again planted a lot of the old standbys that Project Plant first used in its early traffic island gardens: yellow marigolds, red and orange cockscomb, 'Palace Blue' lobelia, 'Hawaii Royal' ageratum, 'Chimes Yellow' and 'Ribbon Purple' snapdragons, 'Jaio Scarlet' vinca, and 'Magellan Cherry' zinnias.

It was a wonderful way to celebrate 2005, our 20th year of making Athens bloom.