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