September

It is always energizing to spend time with people who share a passion for aquatic plants!  This month has been an incredible example of that, starting with my visit to Denver Botanic Gardens at the beginning of the month, where I gave a presentation detailing the work we do here at Duke Gardens to host the IWGS New Waterlily Contest.  During the trip, I had the chance to spend a day with Joe Tomocik, the curator of aquatic plants at DBG - a position he has held for nearly 30 years.  He was very kind to spend so much time with me sharing his knowledge, tips, and stories!

Monet Pool at Denver Botanic Gardens

Next it was off to San Angelo, TX for the IWGS Annual Symposium- as detailed in my previous blog post.  Talk about energizing!  I met water gardening fanatics from Japan, China, Canada, Australia, Thailand, the U.K., and of course the U.S.

Pottery Bog Filter at Nelson Water Gardens

Rolf and Anita Nelson, the owners of Nelson Water Gardens in Katy, TX were wonderful hosts in the days leading up to and following the conference!  Their retail nursery had so much to see and so many creative ideas that I would love to incorporate into our displays at SPDG, including a "pottery bog filter" constructed using decorative pottery plumbed with pvc pipe with slats cut in it and planted with marginal aquatics.  The water from the pond is pumped up through the pipe and into the potting media (small gravel) where it is filtered by the extensive root systems of the marginals before overflowing back into the pond.  What a great idea - beautiful and effective!

During the conference, I had the opportunity to meet Ken Landon, a renowned waterlily hybridizer and the curator of the International Waterlily Collection in San Angelo.  During an afternoon class, Ken shared his tips for storing tropical waterlily tubers for up to 10 years, which will be helpful to us at SPDG as we increase the size of our waterlily collection.

Yesterday was a great way to round out the month, with the arrival of two special guest volunteers from Wilmington who gave us a hand in the Virtue Peace Pond.  Michael Allan, the former volunteer curator of water gardens at The New Hanover County Arboretum, and Sue Reilly, a current water garden volunteer at the NHCA, joined us in the pond to give the waterlilies their final dose of fertilizer, clean up dead leaves and blooms on the plants, and to compare notes and share tips and ideas regarding our work in the ponds.

A big thank you to Michael and Sue for sharing their enthusiasm and hard work with us, and for rounding out an incredible month of water gardening!  

Guest volunteers Sue Reilly and Michael Allan

IWGS New Waterlily Contest Winners!

The winners of the 2010 IWGS New Waterlily Contest were announced this past weekend in San Angelo, TX at the annual IWGS Symposium.  The official winners are:

Best New Hardy Waterlily and Best New Waterlily Overall - 'Wanvisa', hybridized by Nopchai Chansilpa of Thailand.

Best New Tropical Waterlily and Second Place Waterlily Overall - 'Bimini Twist', hybridized by Florida Aquatic Nurseries, USA.

Best New Nightblooming Waterlily - 'Mae Ploi', hybridized by Sompon Janjungerm of Thailand

Best New Intersubgeneric Waterlily - 'Siam Pink', hybridized by Pairat Songpanich of Thailand

In the People's Choice Awards, the winners are:

Best New Hardy Waterlily - 'Wanvisa', Nopchai Chansilpa of Thailand

Second Place Hardy Waterlily - 'Rattana Ubol', Pairat Songpanich of Thailand

Best New Tropical Waterlily - 'Chularat', Nopchai Chansilpa of Thailand

Second Place Tropical Waterlily - Unnamed hybrid, Florida Aquatic Nurseries, USA

Congratulations to all of the winners!

2010 IWGS Symposium - San Angelo, TX

Greetings from the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society's annual symposium!  This conference takes place in a different location each summer and is attended by pond experts from all over the world.  This year the conference is being held in San Angelo, TX - home of the stunning International Waterlily Collection (IWC).  This is one of the largest collections of waterlilies in the world and is maintained by noted waterlily hybridizer Ken Landon.

This morning, I had my first glimpse of the IWC, and it definitely lives up to expectations!  Over 200 varieties of waterlilies from all over the world are on display in several formal pools.  These pools are connected by several small waterfalls and are edged with marginal aquatics including taro, papyrus, umbrella palm, and canna.  Black dye is added to the water to aid in algae control and to highlight the dramatic leaves and blooms of the plants.

Tomorrow morning, classes will begin in subjects including waterlily hybridization, water quality management, botanical latin, and lotus in China.  

Saturday will mark the start of "Lily Fest", an annual event held at the IWC that gives visitors the opportunity to view all of the amazing waterlilies on display and to speak with Ken Landon about his work in curating the collection.  

Classes in the afternoon will cover topics including storage techniques for waterlily tubers and seeds, the use of floating islands to improve water quality, and how to choose quality koi for a pond.  

Saturday evening, the winners of the New Waterlily Competition will be revealed at last! 

Stay tuned for a list of the official winners, as well as a list of the winning lilies chosen by the public in the 2010 "People's Choice Awards".

IWGS Contest Waterlilies Thriving

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to stop by Duke Gardens to see the rainbow of hybrids entered in this year's IWGS New Waterlily Competition.

The Virtue Peace Pond is a riot of color with 33 new hybrids on display, including night-blooming waterlilies, day-blooming tropicals, and hardy lilies.  Now is their peak bloom time, so don't miss your chance to get some great photos, relax by the pond, and vote for your favorites!

Speaking of voting, you can choose your favorite new hybrids on our website at sarahpdukegardens.org.

The official judging will take place later this month by a panel of IWGS judges, each of whom has over 20 years of experience growing waterlilies.  The public voting will run through the end of September.  The winners of each will be announced here, on our website, and on the IWGS site at iwgs.org.

As far as our work in the ponds goes, it is business as usual, with dedicated volunteers and staff working in the ponds twice a week to maintain the plants by removing dead leaves and blooms and moving the plants around as needed to ensure that each has enough space to grow.  Fertilization is done every other week using specially formulated aquatic fertilizer tabs that are pushed into the soil around the base of each plant.

You may notice that our Victoria 'Longwood Hybrid' plant is smaller this year, and this is intentional.  We have been feeding it bi-weekly rather than our normal weekly schedule in order to keep it from taking up too much space in the pond.  We need all the space we can get this year with all of the entries we have on display.  It is still an amazing plant to behold and is blooming continuously, with another night's bloom set to open tomorrow evening.

2010 People's Choice Awards - Vote for Your Favorite New Waterlily Hybrids Today!

This summer's waterlily season is off to an excellent start, with 33 brand new waterlily hybrids from around the world growing rapidly in our Virtue Peace Pond.  These new lilies came to us this spring from Canada, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, and the U.S.

Five of the entries are tropical night-bloomers, 11 are tropical day-bloomers, and 17 are hardy waterlilies (all hardy waterlilies are day-bloomers).

Our volunteer waterlily team is working hard to keep these special plants fertilized and groomed (removing dead leaves and spent blooms) throughout the summer months.

Photos are taken of the flower buds, 1st through 3rd day blooms, 2nd day blooms with a ruler, the leaves, and the plants with a yard stick to show their size.  These photos will be sent to the IWGS in mid-August.  A panel of IWGS judges will then choose the Best New Waterlily of 2010, as well as the Best New Hardy and Best New Tropical Waterlilies of the year.

If you live near the Gardens, don't miss your chance to see these unique new hybrids up close in the Virtue Peace Pond, which is located directly behind the Doris Duke Visitor's Center.  An interpretive sign has been placed pond-side to give details on the contest, and bookmarks with all of the voting information are also available in this location and at our information desk.

We would like to invite you to choose your own favorite new waterlily hybrids as part of the 4th Annual People's Choice Awards, the public voting portion of the contest. Vote for your favorites today on our website at sarahpdukegardens.org.  Check back weekly for new photos as the tropicals come into bloom!

Tropical Waterlilies Make Their Debut

Today was an exciting day in the water gardens!  Thanks to the help of our dedicated volunteer waterlily team, we planted our tropical waterlilies into the Virtue Peace Pond.  Included in the collection this year are brand new hybrids entered in the 2010 IWGS New Waterlily Competition.  This year's contest promises to be a great one, with over 25 new hybrids (hardy, tropical, day-blooming,  and night-blooming) competing for the title of "Best New Waterlily of 2010".

We are currently working on our interpretive sign and voting system in order for visitors to the Gardens to choose their own favorite hybrids.  The official IWGS judging will take place in August - those results will be available at iwgs.org.  I will post more details for the public voting as we get the system in place in the next couple of weeks.

Visit now to see our collection of lotus in bloom, as well as hardy waterlilies in our collection and in this year's contest.  I've included photos of just a few of the contest hardies that are currently in bloom.   

Also, keep an eye on our Victoria 'Longwood Hybrid' - it was planted today in the Virtue Peace Pond.  The leaves currently measure about 12" across, but will quickly grow to over 5' in diameter this summer.  We will have more information about this amazing tropical waterlily on an interpretive sign located pond-side.

2010 Water Gardening Season Begins!

After a long and unusually cold winter, spring has finally arrived here in North Carolina. The waterlily team has been busy already this year, beginning with the division of all of our lotus and hardy waterlily plants at the end of March. A special thank you to John Wyman, Jean Reniers, Karen Webbink, and Jay Stoltz for their valuable help with this daunting task.

*Look for an upcoming post with step-by-step instructions for the division and planting of these aquatic plants.

The new year has also brought with it some much needed refurbishment of our fish pool/contest lily pool, meaning that this year the IWGS New Waterlily Contest will be held in the Virtue Peace Pond located behind the Doris Duke Visitor's Center. Be sure to visit often between June and September to see these brand new hybrid waterlilies from Thailand, Cyprus, Canada, the United States, and beyond! You can vote for your favorites using ballots available pond-side or on our website starting in June. The official voting by a panel of IWGS judges will take place in late July or early August.

As of today, 16 hardy waterlily entries are potted and ready to go in the pond. Four were already blooming today, and I've attached a few photos to show what is in store for the summer. The tropicals are set to begin arriving next week, with a few night-bloomers in the mix to keep us on our toes.

Of course, our water gardening season would not be complete without the ever-present companionship of the local wildlife. A pair of mallards with ten newly hatched ducklings had taken up residence in the pond last week, but seem to have moved on to another spot in the Gardens. A turtle and her offspring are on our radar, with the turtle trap in place in hopes that we can relocate them soon. A pair of Canada geese explored the possibility of making the pond home, but were quickly encouraged to look elsewhere. So far, there has been very minimal damage to report, with only a few nibbles here and there - knock on wood!

This month, look for more hardy waterlilies to come into full bloom, and keep an eye on our collection of lotus - both in containers and in the ponds. They continue to grow at a rapid rate and should begin to show some flower buds by the month's end.

We're looking forward to a great season, and hope to see you pond-side!