According to the link below, the festival will be on Sept 29th

Here is a link that might be useful: Carnegie Canna Festival

I want to discourage you from buying any cannas from Horn's canna farm. I've bought cannas from them for many years and was very pleased, but the past two years that I got cannas from them, ALL of the cannas were diseased with mosaic virus. The second year the cannas they sent me were replacements for the diseased cannas they sent the previous year. Their attitude about the problem was depressing and I absolutely disagree with their advice for dealing with diseased cannas. Diseased cannas should be discarded or burned to prevent the disease from spreading! Here is the reply they sent me in response to an email I sent them about receiving diseased cannas from them.

Hello Dawna,

Thank you for taking the time to contact us regarding the virus symptoms in your cannas.

The canna virus is something that is fairly new to the canna industry and there is much speculation and unknown about the causes. While there are some precautions that can be taken, there is no known cure at this time. It appears that cannas grown throughout the world are affected and not just those grown in Oklahoma or the United States.

This is our advice:

-Give the cannas the best growing conditions possible, and it sounds as if you are doing this already

-Apply a systemic insecticide to keep sucking insects from transferring the virus.

-The cannas will grow more vigorously as the weather continues to stay hot. You may cut the unsightly foliage off and the cannas will grow out of the virus symptoms with fresh, new leaves.

If you would let us know which cannas other than the Miss Oklahoma and Pink Beauty are affected, we will be happy to replace these cannas for you for Spring 2006.

Again, thank you for contacting us. Please let us know how we may help further.

Kind regards,

Nikki Snow

Horn Canna Farm

www.cannas.net

Horn's was a fantastic business for many, many years. I considered them one of the best canna farms in the world. It's not their fault that they now have diseased cannas. This is a WORLD WIDE problem. The majority of cannas I see for sale every where are diseased. These businesses that are selling DISEASED cannas need to stop, and they need to quit giving out bad advice like in the email above. If you have healthy cannas, and it sounds as if you do, keep the ones you have and be grateful they are healthy, and be extremely careful of getting any new cannas. You might trade cannas with a friend who also has a nice garden of cannas that have no diseases.

I had over 50 varieties of cannas, and they are one of my favorite plants. But thanks to canna mosaic virus spreading through my collection like wildfire, I now have less than 20 varieties left. It has been heartbreaking to lose so many varieties that I have loved. I wish now I had stuck with some of my old original varieties and not tried collecting so many of the new and unusual cultivars. Because I really fear that before it's over, I...

Wolflover,Thanks for the warning!I did not know that this place was the horns canna farm.I have heard about them and their sick cannas.Like I said I have never been.Maybe we will go just to walk around and look.I won't buy anything.I have been gardening for years and I have never had cannas diseased with mosaic virus. Thanks for the reply and I will heed your warning.Thanks for sharing that with me.

Dawna,

Your warnings about mosaic virus on cannas have been very enlightening to us all.

I have been watching my plants carefully and have not yet seen any sign of disease.

Thank you for sharing the info with us. You have done us all a great service.

Dawn

I hate to badmouth Horn's canna farm. They are more of a victim in this canna disease problem than any of us. Can you just imagine a family business began in the 1920's, now falling victim to a disease like mosaic virus? I feel incredibly sorry for this family. I believe their cannas have only became diseased in the past few years. In 2004 I ordered cannas from them, and all received were perfect. Then in 2005 I ordered more cannas, including one variety that I bought the year before, Maudie Malcolm. The majority of the cannas I received that year were diseased. The following year, 2006, ALL the cannas they sent me were diseased. I am so sad for them that their business, which has been family owned and operated for almost 100 years, is now going through this. No doubt the business will be ruined. But I think it's wrong to bury your head in the sand and to continue sending out what they must know are diseased cannas, to infect cannas of innocent people who have no clue about cannas having diseases. It's time to be up front about the disease, and quit selling diseased plants. I hope I am wrong about my feelings on this, but I have yet to see one word about mosaic virus or other canna disease on their website or FAQs. And the information they sent me about cutting off the distorted foliage on the diseased plants is totally wrong. What they should have said was DESTROY the plants and we will refund your money. I truly didn't care about the money, but I was P.O.'ed to be sent diseased cannas by a company that I'm sure knows they are sending out diseased plants to unsuspecting buyers!

Dawna,

I know it must have been very hard for you to 'bad-mouth' Horn's canna farm, but I do NOT believe you were bad-mouthing them at all. You are only speaking the truth in an honest and moral way, and I am proud of you for doing so when it would be easier, in some ways, to be quiet and say nothing. I also appreciate that you care enough about all of us to tell us about your experiences with their cannas.

I know from things you have said about Horn's canna farm in the past that you were a very satisfied and loyal customer and you always spoke highly of them. I feel for the family that owns and runs Horn's also. It is heartbreaking when a family farm is suffering from conditions entirely beyond their control.

You have a right to be upset with their advice as it is horticulturally unsound. When I get diseased plants from a vendor, I always expect a refund or a healthy replacement. If I don't get it, I am done with that company forever. I simply refuse to patronize retailers or wholesalers who expect me to be happy with diseased plants.

Keep speaking the truth, girl, and we will keep listening!
I appreciate you more than you will ever know.

Dawn

I am keeping an eye on my two cannas - Bankok (green/white striped) and Tropicanna (the red/green striped). If they show signs, out they will come. So far, they look okay.

Susan

I ordered from Horn this spring for the first time. I bought 21 roots. Some of them looked partially rotten, but I planted them all anyway. 12 grew, 9 did not. Those that did come up had mottled leaves and did not look right. I feared that they might have virus so I pulled them up. I just couldn't risk that they would infect my other healthy cannas.

I also ordered 24 roots from Horn this spring. For some reason the six "Black Knight" plants I ordered never grew, but the 18 remaining look fantastic. I wasn't aware of the mosaic virus issue, so I'll be sure to keep a close eye on them. Thanks for the heads up.

Here is a statement about the virus from their website (http://www.cannas.net/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.showpage/pageID/5/index.htm):

"

Within the last few years the
horticulture community has experienced an epidemic explosion worldwide
with newly found diseases in a multitude of their crops. Cannas have
been no exception. Up until recently, science has been unable to
reliably identify the cause of some of these diseases. In many of our
minor horticulture plants, such as cannas, that reliable identification
still remains difficult at best.

At
the present, there seems to be at least three, and likely four,
identified viruses affecting cannas. There is still some debate over
this issue and it is always possible to have others identified in the
future. As some consumers likely know, virus plant infections and the
symptoms produced can be both serious and at times nonexistent. This
complicates the eradication of the virused plants.

Symptoms appear more often in
container grown cannas, especially those grown in the northern U.S. Many
other plant diseases, as well as the growing environment, can produce
plant symptoms that mimic virus infections. Not all growing symptoms are
virus related. In most cases, plant symptoms are a result of several
related conditions including possible virus infection. We are actively
pursuing certification from Oklahoma State University in order to sell
cannas with a virus free certification. We are doing this through
two efforts: indexing cannas and replanting those that show no virus
symptoms and through tissue culture. We do not expect this to be a
short term endeavor. However, our work with OSU and improvements in our
growing conditions over the past six years are providing a a great
opportunities for cannas to remain a favorite go-to plant for gardeners
and commercial growers alike."

I was totally unaware of a canna virus. Guess I need to get out more.Ha,

I have purched items from Horns all my gardening life and never had an issue, but never bought a single canna from them. It has been several years since I purched anything from them, I have a very good local nursey close to home that I use.

I bought cannas from Walmart on a rainy morning in May. They seem to be doing great. All my others I have had for years, so I guess they are ok. What are the virus signs that I need to be watching for? You were always safe with cannas and daylillies, now you can't even trust them, the knockout roses have spread the rosette virus to a major epidemic for all roses, what's coming next? I don't know what it will take to get control of all these issues. If it gets to the point of health certs on plants we will not be able to afford to purchase very many plants.

There's several viruses addressed in the linked OSU fact sheet on canna viral infections. They show photos of 4 different ones on this fact sheet.

I am happy to hear that Horn's is working with OSU to try to obtain disease-free certification. I wish them luck in that endeavor. I believe the future of their family business depends on them being able to get that disease-free certification.

Nothing is safe any longer, and I've gotten so picky about what I buy and bring home because it seems like everything is developing bizarre diseases nowadays. Can we blame it on a changing climate? More mobility in travel and the import/export of plants? You know, we can have human diseases spread incredibly rapidly now as people routinely fly all over the world. I wonder if that same factor plays a role in plant diseases popping up all over the place nowadays.

OSU Fact Sheet: Canna Viruses