A kickstart, a new title and Canna virus.

I've been somewhat neglectful of the blog of late, life had just managed to get in the way. I'm not complaining. I've enjoyed the break, doing other things. Besides, the garden can take a little benign neglect over the winter, but spring is here and it's finally time for a kick up the proverbial and to start posting again.
I've been feeling for a while that a new blog title was required, it's no longer a secret that I garden obsessively. I often lecture to garden clubs, societies and classes, so it's I'm not exactly keeping things quiet on that front any more.
I was in a quandary over the name change for some time, as it'd mean difficulties for the people who subscribe under the old name (mydirtylittlesecretobsession.blogspot.com). Will they be able to find me again, will they notice the change, will they even care? In the end I just decided to go with it.

So why 'Exotic gardening @ 55 degrees North'? I thought it fitted with the ethos of what I'm trying to achieve, growing plants that look like they belong nearer the equator than somewhere on the same latitude as southern Alaska.

This spring I've been busy purchasing big leaved exotics for the garden, Cannas, Ensete, Musa, I'm wanting things to be lush and leafy, big and bold, OTT tropicana.

Cannas are the way forward for me this year, I've been on the hunt for quite a few new ones, both those grown for flowers and interesting foliage. The best are of course those that combine coloured leaves with great flowering ability.
If you're in the UK or Europe Hart Canna are the go to guys for virus free Cannas. I will NEVER buy Cannas as rhizomes from the garden centre, the vast majority of them are infected with various viruses that cause stunted growth, streaking of the leaves and due to weakening of the plant eventual death.
You'll often see potfuls of nice lush cannas in garden centres and DIY stores in late spring and early summer, but look closely. Are there any signs of light yellow speckling or streaking on the leaves?

It can sometimes be difficult to spot, especially with the likes of 'Pretoria' which has vibrant yellow streaks through the leaves:

But look more closely.

See those yellow dots? The lines of variegation should be mostly intact, not broken. A sure sign of virus.

It's much easier with Canna 'Durban'.
Plants infected with virus will have broken green streaks on what should be purple leaves with vibrant pink lines.

If you grow Cannas in your garden that are free of disease and you introduce one of these plants you can almost guarantee that by the end of summer your previously clean plants will have become infected.
The viruses are spread by sap sucking insects such as greenfly. Slugs and snails are thought to be another possible vector as thy munch on one plant then move on to the next victim.
Your tools can also spread the disease, any that come into contact with an infected plant and then touch a clean plant can then introduce virus. It's a good idea to disinfect any tools/blades after dividing or digging a Canna before moving on to another individual.
Many a grower has had to dispose of their entire collections as the virus spread through their prized plants like wildfire.
Until the big growers clean up their act and start disposing of infected plants, only offering those that are healthy this is likely to remain an issue for many years to come.