Water Gardening at Duke Gardens

IWGS New Waterlily Competition Results

2011-09-18T20:01:00.002-04:00

The results of the 2011 IWGS New Waterlily Competition are now available at the following link:http://www.iwgs.org/2011-waterlily-competition-winners.html

In other news, the New Waterlily Competition will be moving to Denver Botanic Gardens in 2012. Keep an eye out for my new blog featuring photos and information for water gardening in the "mile high city"!

-Tamara

2011 Water Garden Season Begins!

2011-06-14T23:38:00.003-04:00

It is hard to believe that the winter and spring have passed and we are already in the midst of a brand new water gardening season here at Duke Gardens! A lot has happened since my last post, so let me bring you all up to speed.

This year, we are continuing in our role as the host of the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society's New Waterlily Competition. We have a record number of 40 entries in the contest this year, including hardy waterlilies, day-blooming and night-blooming tropicals, Australian (in the subgenus Anecphya) hybrids, and intersubgeneric entries including plants that are crosses between hardy and tropical varieties.

These diverse and unique new hybrids will be grown and displayed in the Virtue Peace Pond again this year. Photos will be taken of each entry throughout the summer months, with the official judging taking place in late August. Once again, visitors to SPDG and our website will be able to vote for their own favorite hybrids in the "People's Choice Awards". I will post the link for the voting site in early July, but here are just a few of the hardy entries blooming now.

In other news, I just returned from a whirlwind trip to London this past week. During my time overseas with our Director of Horticulture, Bobby Mottern and Curator Jason Holmes, we visited Kew Gardens and met with the aquatic plants expert there, Carlos Magdalena. Carlos showed us his amazing new Anecphya hybrids, as well as the Nymphaea thermarum plants that he has been working to propagate. This waterlily species is the smallest in the world, and is in danger of extinction in its native habitat of natural hot springs in Rwanda. Carlos has successfully propagated this rare gem at Kew! For more information about his work and N. thermarum, check out the article he wrote for Water Gardeners International at this link:
www.watergardenersinternational.org/journal/4-4/contents_nm.html.

Waterlily House at Kew Gardens

Nymphaea thermarum (shown here with a much larger Anecphya hybrid)

Back at Duke Gardens, the fish pool is now up and running after months of refurbishment. Goldfish, hardy waterlilies, marginals and a few baby turtles are now enjoying the crystal clear water provided by the advanced filtration system now in place. The bog garden below the Virtue Peace Pond is filled with the lush growth of Pickerel Plant (Pontederia cordata), Lotus (Nelumbo cultivars), Hardy Thalia (Thalia dealbata), Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia spp.), and many more thriving marginals.

Stop by to see us in July and August to see all of the aquatic plants in their full glory!

September

2010-09-24T22:24:00.005-04:00

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!

2010-09-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

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

2010-09-16T18:13:00.000-04:00

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

2010-08-09T21:22:00.007-04:00

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!

2010-06-30T19:25:00.008-04:00

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

2010-06-03T22:32:00.003-04:00

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!

2010-05-02T22:26:00.003-04:00

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!

Another Season Ends

2009-11-19T09:01:00.009-05:00

Sadly for all of us watergardening enthusiasts at Duke Gardens, another growing season has officially come to an end. During the last week in October, we dismantled our display ponds, which required some heavy lifting and "grubby" work as our volunteer John Wyman likes to describe it.

Our beloved Victoria waterlilies were transferred (carefully, and with the aid of thick gloves and pitchforks) to the compost pile, while our hardy waterlilies were lowered to the pond bottom to slumber peacefully until Spring.

We then uprooted all of our tropical waterlilies and sifted through the muck and roots to find any tubers they produced over the summer months. It was a bit like a treasure hunt, though unfortunately we did not come out of it with a rich assortment of tubers. Of the tropicals that did not produce tubers, our favorites were potted in 6" round pots and transferred to our heated greenhouse tubs where we will try to coax them through the winter.

This method of saving plants from year to year is not ideal since it takes up much more valuable greenhouse space then do the tubers. In talking with other growers, including Joe Tomocik at Denver Botanic Gardens and Tim Jennings at Longwood Gardens, we will be working to increase our tuber production by growing some plants of each hybrid in 4" pots throughout next summer with minimal fertilization. The combination of small pot size and a lack of nutrients should force the plants' survival mechanisms to kick in, resulting in a much higher percentage of tuber production.

Another problem we have had for the past few seasons relates to the fast growth of our Victoria lilies. These little monsters have a very healthy happy appetite and an incredibly rapid growth rate. We have plenty of surface area available in our ponds and strive to grow the largest plants we can. The only problem is, as the plants grow, they actually push themselves upward and out of the water. This year, we had one Victoria grow so quickly that the crown of the plant was out of the water by mid-July! Since we grow the plant in this particular pond in an area of water that is 4.5' deep, we are forced to use a metal stand to keep the plant's container at a good level in the water (about 12" from the surface) that makes it easy to maintain and fertilize. However, once the crown is exposed to the hot summer sun, the new leaves and blooms quickly begin to dry up and die.

Long story short, we were forced to make a decision this summer - either leave the plant to die a premature death, or assemble a team of volunteers to help lift the pot from the stand and place it onto another pot filled with gravel on the pond bottom. We chose the latter, which made fertilization at the end of the season impossible without diving equipment, but luckily the plant didn't seem to mind too much and we were able to enjoy its presence in the pond for another three months. After talking with Tim at Longwood, I learned that they have had the same problem with their Victorias, and they actually pot their plants at the bottom of a deep pot and add soil throughout the season as the crown grows upward. We will definitely be using this trick next summer, and it will eliminate the need to purchase scuba gear to fertilize future plants - a win-win situation!

And now the long months of winter begin, leaving us with plenty of time to plan for next year. We hope to expand our collection of aquatic plants, and would especially love to add some of the beautiful Australian waterlilies to our collection. In the meantime, we will have to settle for admiring the fragrant blooms of winter-blooming water hawthorne and the evergreen foliage of sweetflag and horsetail rush to get us through.

A special thanks to the oustanding crew of water garden volunteers pictured below (John Wyman, Karen Webbink, Jeff Prather, and Jean Reniers) for making 2009 another excellent season at Duke Gardens!

Photo provided by Larry Nau.

Rainy Day Recap

2009-09-17T13:27:00.015-04:00

The gray, drizzly weather provided a nice backdrop for our work in the ponds this morning - though the combination of earthbound water droplets and leaking waders was not ideal! With the hectic days of summer behind us, the water gardening season is winding down and our weekly maintenance has been reduced to the removal of deads leaves and blooms on the tropical and hardy waterlilies.

We have stopped fertilizing the lilies in hopes that the tropicals will begin to produce underground storage units (tubers) that we can harvest next month. We will store these tubers in damp peat in sealed plastic tubs under our greenhouse benches for the winter months. Come spring, the tubers will be transferred to our heated water tables in labeled ziploc bags and allowed to sprout new plantlets. These will then be potted and planted in the ponds next June, where the cycle will begin again.

This process allows us to save many tropical lilies from year to year while using a minimum amount of greenhouse space. The large tropical plants themselves are composted each fall. This includes our beloved Victoria waterlilies, which reached a record size for us this summer - the largest leaf measured 7' 3" in diameter, shattering our previous record of 6' 5". The world record Victoria was grown in Brazil and measured 9' in diameter, a size that we are unlikely to reach here - but we can try right?

It is not too late to see our waterlily collections this year. Stop by the Gardens before the end of this month and you will be able to view the winning waterlily hybrids in the 2009 IWGS New Waterlily Contest, alongside winners from past year's competitions. These are all on display in the Fish Pool at the base of the terraces. You will also be able to see our Victoria cruziana, Victoria 'Adventure', and Victoria 'Longwood Hybrid', which are all still blooming happily in the ponds. A special thank you once again to Dave Brigante at Hughes Water Gardens in Tualatin, Oregon and to Kit Knotts in Cocoa Beach, Florida for providing us with bareroot plants and seeds of these spectacular plants.

Also, be sure to stop by the Virtue Peace Pond behind the Doris Duke Visitor's Center to see our new interpretive sign that explains more about the genus Victoria. For more in depth information, growing tips, and stories from other growers around the world, visit http://www.victoria-adventure.org/

Waterlily Competition Winners

2009-09-10T12:56:00.007-04:00

The 2009 IWGS New Waterlily Competition has come to an end. The official judging took place in late August, with the tropical waterlily 'Tanzanite' (pictured here) from Florida Aquatic Nurseries taking top honors as the Best New Waterlily of 2009. Florida Aquatics also won second place in the tropicals category with their hybrid 'Hot Pink'.

In the hardy waterlily division, Fourth Generation Nursery took first place with 'Cliff Tiffany' (pictured below) while hybridizer Andreas Protopapas of Cyprus took second place with 'Cyprus Pink Star'. To view photos of all of the entries and the official winners, visit http://www.iwgs.org/site-structure/.

The turnout for the public voting this year was impressive, with 1,675 votes cast using pond-side ballots and online voting. The public agreed with the judges in their choice of 'Tanzanite' as the top new tropical waterlily, while second place went to 'Silver Moon' (pictured below), hybridized by Louis Belloisy. Voters chose 'Rattana Ubol', hybridized by Pairat Songpanich of Thailand, as the best new hardy waterlily, while second place went to Andreas Protopapas of Cyprus for his unnamed hybrid, aka Hardy #5. The results of the public voting are posted on our website at http://hrweb-dev.oit.duke.edu/dukegardens/waterlilies2009-after.htm

Congratulations to all of the winners, and thank you to everyone who voted in this year's contest!

Contest Waterlilies Ready for their Close-Ups

2009-07-02T19:02:00.004-04:00

Today was another busy day in the water gardens! The morning began with the first in a series of free waterlily walks that will be offered throughout the summer months. Our hour-long stroll around the Gardens included visits to the Virtue Peace Pond behind the Doris Duke Visitor's Center, the newly constructed bog garden below this pond, the Fish Pool at the base of the Historic Terraces, and the reflection pool in the South Lawn. Topics discussed included waterlily growing tips, the importance of wetland plants and bogs as filtration systems in natural environments, entries into the IWGS New Waterlily Contest, and the impressive characteristics of the tropical night-blooming Victoria water platters. To find out more about future waterlily walks, visit our website. Also new this week: the public voting for the IWGS New Waterlily Contest began on our website at http://www.hr.duke.edu/dukegardens/waterlilies2009.htm. Votes can be cast online now, or in person at the Fish Pool beginning next week. Don't miss the chance to see these colorful new hybrids for yourself!

Sneak Peek of New Waterlily Competition Entries

2009-06-16T19:51:00.015-04:00

This year's entries to the IWGS New Waterlily Competition have been placed in the Fish Pool at the base of the terraces and are showing off their first blooms! These new hybrids will be on display through September, with peak bloom time occurring from mid-July to mid-August. Starting in July and continuing through the end of August, visitors to the Gardens will be able to vote for their favorite lilies in the third annual "People's Choice Awards". Votes can be cast using ballots available pond-side, or by visiting our website. Here is a sneak peek of a few of the colorful hardy and tropical waterlilies vying for the Best New Waterlily of 2009. Come see them in person this summer, and let us know which lily you prefer!

A new intern and new water plants at Duke Gardens!

2009-06-09T15:14:00.006-04:00

Let me start off my first post by introducing myself, my name is Beth Rudd, and I'm one of the summer interns working at Duke Gardens this summer. Each of us get to select an intern project, and I'm going to spend mine working in the water gardens. Today was only my second day to get into the ponds, but on a 90 degree plus day, it feels great to cool down, even in hip waders. Today we planted several tropical water lilies that are part of an international competition of new hybrids. Each lily is planted into a plastic pot, with clay soil, and then sunk into the pond. Having never done this before I was surprised at how simple it was - it doesn't even matter if the leaves of the plant don't quite reach the surface, apparently they will grow to make up the difference in just a few days! In general I've just been trying to learn about the different water plants - and how to identify them. Duke has both tropical and hardy water lilies, which you can tell apart by the thickness of their leaves, and the shape of the leaf edges. The water lotus are also hitting their prime, with big, beautiful flowers. As I waded around in the ponds I saw that these plants are also pretty vigorous, spreading several feet from their original pot. But probably what i'm most excited about are the victoria waterlilies, which apparently get huge leaves and flowers, and are native to the Amazon region of South America. Be sure to come by Duke and check out these amazing plants!

Hardy Waterlilies in Full Bloom!

2009-05-28T12:36:00.007-04:00

It is amazing to me how fast this month has flown by! It is a very busy time here at the Gardens, and that includes the water gardens. Today our volunteer, Karen Webbink, joined me in the ponds to do a little clean-up. We were pleased to see that our hardy waterlilies are in spectacular bloom, with a rainbow of flowers gracing our three display pools. The lotus are also gearing up for an impressive show, with some leaves over 2' in diameter and flower buds visible. These should be at their peak bloom in June, so don't miss them! We've added a few new lotus hybrids to our collection this year, so keep an eye out for 'The President', 'Mrs. Perry Slocum', and 'Perry's Giant Sunburst'. All are creations of the renowned waterlily and lotus hybridizer Perry Slocum. Joining us at the ponds today were a number of bullfrogs, baby turtles, and children from local school groups! The kids were especially excited when I asked them to take a baby turtle I caught down to the South Pool to release him. One down... and countless others to go! Speaking of turtles, we were not so delighted to find that a snapping turtle has taken up residence in the Virtue Peace Pond behind the Doris Duke Center. This guy is proving to be especially difficult to catch, but he does enjoy sunbathing right next to the turtle trap... I can't be sure, but I think he's laughing at us. Next week we have our final contest lilies arriving, and the following week all of our tropicals, including the Victoria waterlilies, will be planted outdoors. Stay tuned for more info and photos in the coming weeks!

Turtles, Ducks, and Koi

2009-04-30T15:27:00.006-04:00

It's that time of year again. Summer is right around the corner and our waterlilies and lotus are gearing up for another show-stopping season. Our hardy waterlilies are already beginning to bloom in the display ponds, with 'Red Queen', 'John Wedgwood', and 'Niki' leading the pack. Karen Webbink took this photo of 'Red Queen' while we were in the ponds cleaning and fertilizing today. There's only one problem - actually, make that three problems... turtles, ducks, and koi. Yes, our wild neighbors are once again wreaking havoc in the ponds this year. Today alone, we found about a dozen waterlily leaves floating freely on the water's surface after being snipped off one by one by a large red-eared slider. Our floating turtle trap is in place, but so far the newly leafed out lilies are proving far more tempting than the trap's two sunning decks. Joining the turtles were two muskovy ducks and two mallards. So far our feathered friends have not been too destructive, but from past experience we know it is only a matter of time. Rounding out the group are the few large koi in our ponds. These guys love to dig around in freshly planted waterlily pots, uprooting any waterlily rhizomes that happen to be in their way. To combat this, we have been placing large flat stones on the surface of the soil in each pot. It appears to be working so far! If anyone out there has other tips on how to deal with any of these troublemakers, please let me know!

Plant Sale, Pond Prep, and more!

2009-04-23T08:11:00.008-04:00

Our spring plant sale at Duke Gardens is just hours away! Staff and volunteers are busy making preparations for the big day, and it looks like the weather will cooperate, with a toasty 87 degrees forecast for Saturday. As far as aquatic plants go, the sale this year will feature bareroot lotus tubers that are ready to plant now, along with hardy waterlily rhizomes divided from our display plants last week.

In the ponds, the volunteer waterlily team has been busy preparing for the busy summer months. John Wyman and Jean Reniers finished up their work on the waterlily stands yesterday, removing any rust and adding a fresh coat of rustoleum to keep them sturdy for this season. These stands allow us to grow our waterlilies at depths necessary for optimum growth and blooming - generally 12-18" below the water's surface. Without the stands, we would be unable to grow these plants in many areas of the ponds that average 4' deep.

Karen Webbink was hard at work again this morning in our propagation greenhouse. A water change was done in each tub and the Victoria and Euryale seedlings were fertilized. She also assisted in transplanting many of our tropical waterlily starts, which were ready to be seperated from the tubers we saved from last year's plants. We have a good collection of tropicals started, and can hardly wait to get them out into the ponds!

Lastly, we are continuing to receive entries to the IWGS New Waterlily Contest, with a hardy waterlily entry set to arrive early next week from Thailand! The tropical entries will begin to roll in next month, and all of these will be placed outdoors starting in early June. Stay tuned!

April Showers

2009-04-02T08:09:00.003-04:00

It's a gray, drizzly day here at the Gardens, but inside our greenhouses the climate is decidedly tropical. Our Victoria seeds continue to make progress, with the largest seedling bearing leaves that are 4" in diameter - a far cry from the 6' breadth they will reach by late summer, but exciting none the less. Our Euryale seedlings continue to inch along as well, though at a slower pace then the Vics. Also jostling for space in our heated greenhouse tubs are the entries that have started rolling in for the 2009 IWGS New Waterlily Contest. These new hardy and tropical waterlily hybrids are sent in from hybridizers around the world, with the most recent entries arriving from Cyprus and Hawaii. Our waterlily team is looking forward to growing these brand new plants in the Fish Pool again this summer. The lilies can be viewed beginning in June and running through September, with the peak bloom time occurring in mid-July through mid-August. Visitors will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite hybrids once again this year - both on our website and pond-side. More details, along with photos will be posted soon.

Seedlings and Prep Work

2009-03-12T09:11:00.005-04:00

Our seedlings are off to a good start this year, though we are battling string algae in our propagation tubs. We have over a dozen Euryale seedlings started, most have two to three floating leaves and are growing steadily. Only three of our Victoria seeds have sprouted so far, a decline from years past. We have tried raising the water temperature to near 90 degrees F, but so far most have just slumbered away in their ziploc bags. Of the three that sprouted, two have three floating leaves and the other has two floating leaves. Volunteer Karen Webbink will be in this morning to help with our weekly fertilization and water changes. Also on the agenda for this spring is cleaning up the metal stands that are used to grow our waterlilies at the optimum depth in the ponds. Volunteers John Wyman and Jeff Prather were here at the Gardens yesterday to begin cleaning off any rust that had formed over the winter months. Next week they will begin to apply a fresh coat of black rustoleum to each stand to keep them sturdy for the summer growing season. The guys also did some clean up in the ponds and checked on our hardy waterlilies. We will begin dividing these in early April!

Signs of Spring

2009-02-19T08:31:00.002-05:00

The sun is shining today and there are faint signs that spring is around the corner, despite the forecast for possible snow this Sunday. The Victoria seeds that arrived last week from Kit Knotts in Florida are beginning to sprout, which is always an indication that spring is not far off. We also have several Euryale seedlings that have produced their first floating leaves. One small problem was discovered yesterday - three of our four heaters for the water tanks holding our seedlings stopped working. Replacements are on the way, and hopefully will arrive before the temps dip back into the 20's overnight! Weekly fertilization of these seedlings will begin today, and I will post progress photos soon!

A Cold Day in February

2009-02-06T09:35:00.003-05:00

19 Degrees - That is what the thermometer read when I pried open the door of my car to head for work at Duke Gardens this morning. What better day to begin a blog about watergardening here at our 55 acre botanical garden on Duke University's West Campus? The water may be frozen, but we are already gearing up for the busy season ahead of us. The first task of the season was accomplished yesterday with the help of Karen Webbink, a dedicated volunteer who helps us each year in the ponds. Karen arrived early in the morning to help with the cleaning of our two heated water tables in our propagation greenhouse. We also planted 25 newly sprouted Euryale ferox seedlings in small plastic cups filled with sand. As these produce their first leaves, we will begin to feed them with a special liquid fertilizer that will be injected into the sand around each plant. Coming up next week: the arrival of Victoria 'Longwood Hybrid', 'Adventure', and V. cruziana seeds from Kit Knotts in Cocoa Beach, FL!