In the past few months we have added 700 waterlilies in totalto the new website WaterlilyDatabase.com. Over 1600 photos and over 100 videos.
At the same time we have been working with the International Waterlily Collection in San Angelo Texasand Austin Texas on a Super World Waterlily Event in conjunction with LilyFest. Details on this will be coming out in a few days and we already have inquiries from all over the USA, China, and Parts of Europe.
This year at the International Waterlily Collection you will find s many new waterlilies we could not possible name them all. Intersubgenetics, over 40 new Mike Giles Waterlilies including Blue and Purple Hardy waterlilies. No display of anything like this has been seen in the public ever before. New waterlilies from Japan, Thailand, and more wonderful hybridizers. Our event will be from Thursday Sept 13th to Sunday September 16th. There will be over 300 waterliliesshown over these 4 days. We hope to have a special presentation with new hybridizer Mike Giles, new hybridizer Tony Moore, World famous Hybridizer Ken C. Landon and much more.
Larry Nau and I have discussed trying to get to Germany for their “Thai Waterlilies in Germany” festival this Summer. This month Larry also Relaunched his own watergarden nursery website BergenWatergardens.com the premier water garden, koi, and pond resource in western New York State just outside Rochester.
This week more Pond Plants and water lilies are available for sale at Pond Megastore Nursery. Please be sure and check out the sponsor. Pond Plants are sold both retail and wholesale to all 50 states. Water Hyacinths are also now available.
Though it looks like the blog has been away all winter we have been actively loading new content to the web since August 2011. Larry Nau, Tim Davis, Zac deGarmeaux and a few select other wonderful waterlily lovers have launched the first phase of a new waterlily organization. World Waterlily And Lotus Association (WWALA).
The first tool for the internet we are in the process of building is WaterlilyDatabase.com a search-able online tool of waterlilies from around the world. Reaching out to international friends first like Primlarpwe have an extensive list in English now of most Thai waterlilies with photos and some with video. Sverine Lyssens-Danneboom is helping organize the German, Belgium, and other European waterlilies.
We also have many waterlilies from China and Belgium of all places. We do have plenty of other waterlilies from North America and Europe as well as species. 650 plants to start with and over 1400 photos. We also feature articles on hybridizers and gardens from around the world.
It is a true work of love as everyone is donating time to the project, over 30 contributors from around the world on 6 continents to date! Thisdatabase searchcan also be added to empty webpages on your site!
Deicers let toxix gases escape the from under the ice by causing a hole in the ice. The pond can then get enough fresh oxygen to keep larger koi and goldfish alive that may otherwise suffocate.
Nymphaea Hidden Violet. Properly N. ‘Hidden Violet’, is a newer hardy waterlily released by Randy McDonald.
Originally a seedling of N. ‘Attraction’, from Perry Slocum, Perry sold about 100 seedlings to Brad McLane around the year 2000. Brad in turn sold many of the seedlings to Randy during a time there was a slight shortage of Attraction. According to Randy this is when he grew out and found N. ‘Hidden Violet’. I was anxious to try one of these nifty red hardy lilies. The name Hidden Violet refers to the sheen on the plant when it is held up to the light you see a sheen of violet around the edge of the flowers.
The petal count is low but the unique star flower is interesting. After growing these plants for the past few summers and also seeing it on display in San Angelo I would call this a not so good bloomer. I usually had one bloom per day this summer in multiple pots with multiple crowns. Also for some reason the rhizomes do not seem to enjoy being transplanted like other hardy lilies. I am not sure this is an excellent choice for a market lily however it is unique and something new and fun I enjoyed trying the past few years.
Randy McDonald is an incredible waterlily Hybridizer from California and has an extensive hybrid stock we will dive into soon, many of which are interesting heavy blooming tropical plants.
Three weeks ago our friends Ken Landon and Tim Davis put on the 7th annual Lilyfest celebration with over 240 waterlilies in Civic League Park in San Angelo. This year three new waterlilies were dedicated and the 1980s favorite Texas Dawn made by Ken Landon was honored as recently becoming the state waterlily of Texas. Representative Drew Darby attended again this year and brought the proclamation to the Park.
Texas Dawn has been an incredible waterlily for nearly 30 years, the wonderful yellow flowers on this hardy lily are held high above the water and blooms in profusion. Hybridizers also enjoy working with the cultivar by Ken Landon. Here are some videos from Ken Landon, Drew Darby, and Tim Davis.
Ken Landon
Drew Darby
Tim Davis
Texas Dawn waterlilies are available for purchase here.
I know I have gone a month without a post and that is not common for me as it is some other blogs. I promise the amount of documented content I have gathered on trips this year will be worth it. I spent the past few days with my friend Mike Giles and many, many of his blue and purple hardy waterlilies. I have video of many of the purple lilies and some photos Mike shared with me of the blue hardy lilies. Soon we will also be posting video of about an hour long documentary of Mikes rise in the water garden industry the past 7 years or so. So many great hardy hybrids are now being followed with so many great purple and blue hardy x tropical crosses.
Here is just a peek at what Mike will be bringing to market in the next 2-3 years. Also our friends in Florida have followed in the footsteps of Pairat Songpanich and Mike Giles with more urple hardy waterlilies. Both the blue and purple hardy lilies have been slow too reproduce so they will probably become available 1 or 2 years more slowly than a normal hardy lily. Many of the pink and red lilies multiply faster and could be available sooner.
Mike also has some lilies with blooms nearly the size of a gallon container and in cool weather stay open 6 to 12 days.
More information coming here soon and more waterlilies coming to Pond Megastore.
On my aquatic adventures this year I was able to eat lotus in 3 spots. With my friend Laura in Alabama who introduced me to lotus seeds. Yummy! In Sarasota with my friend Paula Biles at the first Lotus festival I tried Lotus Salad. A pickled lotus in rice vinegar, sweetened. Finally, I went Kayaking through Lotus (Native Lutea) at Mt. Harmon at their lotus festival with my friends Kelly Billing and Matt Billing. Here we had some really fresh lotus seed. If you pick them before they dry they are like peas or beans.
Kayaking through the native Nelumbo Lutea was incredible and by far the coolest experience of our 2011 adventures. More on that in an upcoming post. Here is a video of Mr. Mel Yoshimura who brought his pickled lotus root, or lotus root salad to the Sarasota Lotus Festival in July.
When I visited my buddy Tim in Texas and hs wife Debbie last month I was shocked to see a pool full of Waterlilies and baby tree frogs in his yard. The Tree frogs hatched in the pool and find comefort in the daytime sitting inside the petals of the Waterlilies. Here is a short video of what I shot and I will include some photos Tim took while I was filming.
Today we look at three excellent waterlilies available from our sponsor www.PondMegastore.com , just to remember you can own these three. Many of the videos we share are of course new off the market waterlilies.
We have Emily Grant Hutchings. One of George Prings most incredible night blooming waterlilies, this video though not narrated will stun you! Plant night bloomers only after water is well into the 70s constantly or you will put them to sleep for many weeks. They multiply easily so keeping some over the winter as tubers is no problem if you have watched our tuber storage videos from Ken Landon. Emily Grant Hutchings is pink with green pads, flowers open around dusk and stay open well into the next morning ot even noon if it is overcast.
Next, James Brydon is a red moderate to heavy blooming small to medium waterlily. The shape of the flowers is very pretty and this like most reds does well where summer temperatures are not too hot. If your average high in summer is above 92 degrees then red hardy waterlilies are to be avoided as they tend to turn black and get a cooked appearance after opening.
Finally we have Wood’s Blue Goddess, a favorite large blue waterlily created by Jack Wood in 1989. Flowers stand high above the water and the pads are green. The flowers are moderate to heavy depending on pot size and fertilizer.
Today we have many waterlilies we could show you outside here are 5 I took this morning. All are available shipped full grown with buds ready to bloom all summer at PondMegastore.com
Last year we brought you pictures of baby Allison laying on a victoria lilypad at the San Angelo International Waterlily Collection. This year as we returned we not only took some photos of now one year old baby Allison but shot a minute of footage with her sitting on the lilypad. Her mom, Melody, works at the park. Baby Allison using sharp baby fingernails immediately slit open a small hole in the pad so Tim held the pad up a little toward the end as Allison begins splashing in the water on the lilypad despite the sharp spines below, yes they hurt bad .
Just how Purple is Tanzanite? It actually causes problems with our still photo as the purple (ultraviolet) wavelength is somewhat short and confuses the camera but our Camcorder did a fairly good job.
Take a look, note also the fragrance on the flower is amazing. I never cut them and smell them but just being the distance from the flower to the camera was excellent. This lily can be shipped to your home with hundreds of other choices at www.pondmegastore.com .
Today Tony Moore, creator of such new waterlilies as the incredible Ruby Star and Black Cherry shares a lotus seedling growing out of the seed. Enjoy in full screen.
Jack Wood has been a popular red tropical waterlily for years. Recently outshined by ‘Charlies’ Pride’ by charels winch and then ‘Bull’s Eye’ by Florida Aquatics. Jack wood remains an incredible red bloomer. Take a look at all the blooms on the plant in the second half of todays video blog.
This waterlily is currently for sale at http://www.pondmegastore.com
Today Mike Giles shows us many of his new hardy blue and purple waterlilies. These intersubgeneric waterlilies, Hardy x Tropical crosses are many of the first from North America. Mike has been crossing them since 2005 and these are the first ever videos of the plants.
Beginning in 2012 PondMegastore.com will have exclusive sales rights to the first of Mike Giles hardy waterlilies hybrids. Myra, Sunfire, Fairy Skirt, Yellow Giant, and Hunneycup. In 2013 as long as production goes well we will then bring you the first Purple and Blue hardy waterlilies from Mike Giles.
More Soon….
Zac – water-garden-blog.com / http://www.PondMegastore.com
We did fix the facebook link on the sidebar. Please Join over 6000 people on our facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/PondMegastore There are constant water garden photo contests in which you can win free pond plants or waterlilies of your choosing. The new PondMegastore.com is also still being updated with new help and resource pages. New features will be added through the rest of the rollout into July with monthly updates after the design is complete.
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