Water Garden Blog Water Lilies and Pond Plants

Panda Telescopes – Goldfish

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 11:53:56 +0000

Yesterday I was out trimming lilypads & spent blooms. I thought that while there was a lot of room I would video a few goldfish. The first video is of the slow but fancy ‘Panda Telescopes’, or ‘Panda Moors’. Black and white color give them the panda name, and the eyes that bulge outward are responsible for the telescope part of the name.

When adding fancy goldfish (orandas, fantails, pearlscales, black moors, lionheads, ryunkins) make sure to have plenty of plant coverage as in floating plants or waterlilies and some submerged plants like hornwort so these fish can hid from preadatory birds and other animals.

These fish will grow to 6 inches or more in a pond.

Mayla – A wonderful easy growing waterlily

admin — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:31:44 +0000

Mayla is a favorite hardy waterlily. Free flowering and for years one of the brightest and larger waterlily.

Grow easily in zones 3-8. It will also grow in zones 9-11 but may burn a little in deep summer and under heavy fertilizer. I would suggest a pot 3 gallons or more in size (at least 10″ across and 14″ or more is even better.

Deep Purple hardy waterlilies exist…

admin — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 02:59:24 +0000

Today is a day that word begins spreading across the world that Purple and Blue hardy waterlilies are something that people will indeed be able to grow in their water gardens.

A few years ago Pairat Songpanich hybrized what is the worlds first hardy (inter-sub-genetic) waterlily with a blue (lavendar) hue. The good news was that one existed the bad, the plant has produced no natural offspring since 2007.

A few weeks ago in July hybridizer Mike Giles who has studied waterlily genetics and history for the better part of a decade produced a wonderful hardy purple….very purple. UPDATE 8-17-2010: Named “Purple Satin”

WHO IS MIKE GILES?

That was going to be a blog post of mine for a few months. My buddy Tim in Houston Texas has been sharing Mikes hardy hybrids with me for most of this year. Until the news of a successful purple I thought Mike would be going into the history books for creating some wild and fascinating waterlilies based on the pads. I saw much of Mikes new work when visiting San Angelo Texas where over a dozen new varieties are on display this year. The lilypads are beyond fancy in my opinion. The flowers are all very pretty but the pads blew me away.

As I write this tonight, if you know anything about waterlilies I am not going to be able to impress you with all my photos and videos of the pads as you want to see the worlds first hardy purple tropical. Tim Davis has waited a long Time to introduce Mike Giles to the world and Mike’s story will be well known and is fascinating as you may soon learn.

So do me a favor and head over to my buddy Tim’s Website as he introduces you to Mike and this yet to be named purple Hardy waterlily.

Visit the InternationalWaterlilyCollection.com to view this new lily

I will have Mike’s videos and photos of the new regular hardy waterlilies on here soon and please visit his work this late summer of fall if you can at the International Waterlily Collection in San Angelo Texas.

-Zac

Ultra Violet: The Summer Videos

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:40:18 +0000

The 2008 Best New Waterlily is a remarkable plant. Ultra Violet has grown so quickly and within weeks of fertilizing has big pads and up to 8 buds each day on the surface here in Ohio. I am using Ken Landon fertilizer 7802. The pads and flowers as you will see are just incredible. The price on this plant will be lower in 2011. If you are not getting 4 blooms each day on your waterlilies please email us at Pond Megastore for some more help. A 3-5 gallon container and fertilizer better than tablets should be used. Remember tablets are usually 50% clay. Granular fertilizer is much better!

ENJOY IN FULL SCREEN HIGH DEFINITION!

find this waterlily for sale and more at www.PondMegastore.com

pondmegastore.com

LOTUS Issue

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:45:21 +0000

Tim Davis has recently published the 2nd quarter IWGS Journal for 2010 and a few of my photos from my southern trip were used. I hope to visit Auburn and Ten Mile Creek again. Everyone including Warner, Bills, Laura, and Steve let me in on some great lotus learning and shared so many new varieties with me. Thank you to all four of you for taking the time to show me around the great Lotus that are now in a few parts of Alabama.

Pictured below are Warner Obando (top), Laura Bancroft (bottom left), and Bill Bancroft (bottom right). I am not sure which tea-cup lotus Warner was beside but Laura is standing next to “Sparks” and Bill is in a pond with “Pink Lips” developed by Daike Tian, Ph. D. from Auburn University.

The Lotus Issue (part 2) will continue in Sept/Oct as a continuation issue.

New Salmon Lobelia & Landon Fertilizer

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:28:26 +0000

Salmon Lobelia: New Pink Lobelia that blooms from June until just before frost. Hardy to Zone 4. The plant has been given plenty of room to grow but have only reached about 14″ tall. Slightly shorter than the cardinal lobelia but should be comparable perhaps as it gets older.

The second part of the video talks about Ken Landon’s fertilizer which is a wonderful binary fertilizer for waterlilies. Popular in Europe and especially parts of Asia where waterlilies are as popular as any flower. In America we have become accustom to the tablets which are 50% (sometimes more) clay. A big waste of money. The binary composition of Landon’s fertilizer provides ample food for 2-3 months at a time and the plants soak it up. Use 1/2 dose or less on baby plants so you don’t burn them up.

Enjoy in High Definition and Full Screen Option

Bull’s Eye : A Direct Hit for Red Tropical Waterlilies

admin — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:03:07 +0000

Nymphaea Bull’s Eye: Developed by Florida Aquatics this new waterlily is the most correct Red a tropical day bloomer has achieved until this point. Often hot pink or rosey this adult plant is Red and when very mature nearly maroon.

From Florida Aquatic: The flower color is the real eye-catcher on this lily. The red color is deeper or more of a true red than any lily on the market today. This flower will catch your eye from quite a distance away. Set on a vigorus, compact plant with solid green pads we expect this lily will be well received.
The closest comparison with N. ‘Bulls Eye’ would be N. ‘Jack Wood’ however the flower color of N. ’Bulls Eye’ is much darker than N. ‘Jack Wood’ and the flower has many more petals, up to 50 when mature.

Turn on the volume to hear Tim, the side view in the 2nd half shows realistic color of the flower.

Enjoy in High Definition and Full Screen

Bull’s Eye is currently on display in San Angelo at the International Waterlily Collection 2010.

Bulls Eye can be purchased at www.PondMegastore.com

Laura Introduces Lotus: ELITE RED

admin — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:17:06 +0000

Turn on your volume

Enjoy in High Definition

Lotus Elite Red and others for sale at

www.PondMegastore.com February-July 1st

FOXFIRE: The amazing tropical waterlily. Can bloom 3 days and up to 36hrs without closing.

admin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 21:06:22 +0000

The amazing Foxfire, loved by most who have seen her was developed by Craig Presnell, one of the parents being Ampla, a large species waterlily. Grown very large in the south the adult plants can get 15 feet across easily but only after many months of growing, lots of sunlight, and about a 20 gallon pot. Smaller and just as amazing plants can be grown in a 2 or 5 gallon pot. I recommend Landon Fertilizer. Use 1/2 of the recommended dose as its very hot. The leaves are bronze with mottling. Some can appear green with mottling but its rare. The plant can easily be contained to 5-8 feet by simply trimming pads once a week. Make sure you water temp is above 70 all the way to the bottom of the pond for tropicals to bloom properly. If using plant tabs I now add 6 tabs per 1-2 gallons of water every 25-30 days. 1 Tab does nothing.

Enjoy Foxfire in High Definition (Available in Full Screen)

They are available to purchase at www.PondMegastore.com

Rolf Nelson invites all to discuss the Texas White List at the IWGS September Symposium.

admin — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:22:24 +0000

The Texas White List has passed legislation. Jan 1, 2011 most all aquatic plants will be banned in Texas unless species or varieties can now be added to the new “White List”. Unless marked on approved white list waterlilies and other aquatics will be banned from even owning within state lines. I stopped by Nelson’s Water Gardens in mid June and taped this short overview with Rolf for the IWGS symposium.

For Dates & Details visit www.IWGS.org

Special Thanks to Rolf Nelson & Nelson’s Water Gardens for efforts far beyond the video.

2010 Anticipation & Excitment

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 05:21:47 +0000

This morning I got online and at 10:32AM got an email which said simply “Go here…. NOW>>>>>” with a link attached.

With the click of a mouse, I saw it was true. From this day forward, Hardy Waterlilies will NEVER again stand as a slightly less impressive plant in the shadows of amazing vibrant tropical waterlilies. “Wanvisa” has arrived! I know what you are thinking >>>insert photo here<<<<. I do want you to come back and check for more news and it will eventually show up here along with a flood of others.

On its way to the international waterlily collection in San Angelo, my buddy is currently growing the AMAZING waterlily. Developed by Mr. Nopchai Chansilpa of Thailand. The plant will be on display in San Angelo Texas from July through Lilyfest in September. Nopchai will be present at San Angelo this fall if you would like to meet him. Likely the first peak presentation will be around the July 3 / 4th time this summer.

Other inside information straight from Ken Landon himself via Tim Davis tells a story of massive planting and work underway in San Angelo. The pools are filling with more lilies each day and the young Victoria’s I believe have been added. Ken has a small staff of some great ladies helping him and has just finished working with kids volunteering before summer break. From years past the site looks something like this…

Water-Garden-Blog is staying on top of the many many announcements coming from the San Angelo IWC and will have reports coming all summer long as we anticipate the aquatic event of the Decade.

Many more hybrid waterlilies, interviews, and important topics like the White List are being worked on.

Pack your bags, the China Exploration is about to begin.

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 04:01:17 +0000

If you would like a rare and exciting trip to the ancient gardens of the world Consider the Chinese Lotus Exploration. Two events, one in July and one in August. I will refer you back to the January article HERE. But for more information contact :

Warner Orozco-Obando

Auburn Lotus Research Project

Department of Horticulture

Auburn University

Email:

Phone (703) 389 3604

orozcow@gmail.com

Warner also recently reported on the successful restoration of the wetlands and lotus from

USAID website in Bangladesh. Hail Haor wetlands in 1999. Over the last 150 years,

approximately 50 percent of dry season wetlands have disappeared, resulting in

lower fish production. Environmental changes, such as flood embankments and

large silt deposits have reduced the area and quality of Bangladesh’s water bodies.

before (1999)

After

Hail Haor in 2006. This site has been restored to improve the flow of water and fish from larger rivers.

Community management groups now control dry-season fishing. Native fish species have been

reintroduced and local fishermen have seen their yields increase by over 150 percent, generating

more than $10 million worth of fish in 2005 alone. – USAID