Canna Lilies Celebrate the Joy of Living

   

          

My sister Andy posted a favorite flower in her garden, her Red-Orange Canna Lily. "Honestly, my greatest pleasure this year!" It looks a lot like an Iris, but it sits atop that tall stalk with those tropical red-veined dark leaves, and it's really stunning. "First thing I see when I open my porch door." 

I've sat on that porch many times, and I know what she means. I love my sister's garden in Tallahassee as much as I love mine in Sylvania, Ohio. Our gardens bring us closer, connect us, keep the love flowing. 

That Canna is a perennial beauty. It has some great symbolism, too, that goes back to Greek, Roman and Egyptian legends.  I love that. The Red Canna especially symbolizes courage and determination, and trust in a higher power. They are good to share with a loved one for inspiration during tough times. We can all use those Red Cannas.  Manna from heaven.  

Red Cannas also attract hummingbirds, those birds of paradise that symbolize enjoyment of life and lightness of being. Even though they are very small, they can travel great distances, so they can follow you across the ocean and stay with you until you land in, say, Greece.  And having to cancel that trip this year due to COVID, I plan to do that next year, a Red Canna and a hummingbird beside me.             

Red Canna, 1919

   My sister's Canna brings to  mind Georgia O'Keeffe's sensuous flowers. Here's one of her Red Cannas, painted in  1919. She was still in New York, finding her way. Art historians think she fell in love with Canna Lilies when she visited  Lake George, New York, with Alfred Stieglitz the photographer in 1918.    

 O'Keeffe loved to garden, lucky for us, because her flower paintings are among her most popular paintings of all. Like my sister, I imagine O'Keeffe looked out at her garden and received the  greatest pleasure. And when she gave them to us in the form of a painting, so did we.

Red Canna, 1924

Sources: 

https://www.culturetype.com/2021/07/28/on-occasion-of-new-exhibition-alma-thomas-everything-is-beautiful-curators-and-scholars-reflect-on-lesser-known-aspects-of-artists-life-and-work/

wikipedia on Georgia O'keeffe