'Lucifer'

The cannas are nearing their peak of bloom around my yard and that can only mean that summer is, in fact, here. The calendar may not confirm it, but the thermometer and the cannas certainly will.

I've always felt a partiality for the orange palette of canna hues. Orange just seems to match the heat and the light of the season when they do most of their blooming.


And nothing says "summer" to me like the hot colors of 'Lucifer,' bringer of light.


It's true that the blooms don't last long. After a few short days, they fade away, but, occasionally, if the plants are especially happy, I get second blooms from them later in the summer.

Those second blooms are strictly serendipitous, though. I can't count on them, so, for now, I'll just enjoy these hot, gaudy blossoms for what they are - the flashiest blooms in the garden in this very early "summer." Blooms that mimic the incredible light of a summer day and live up to their name.