Waterlilies and Pond Plants, Lotus and Water Garden News

2010 Anticipation & Excitment

Posted 06/2/10

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.

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

Posted 05/31/10

by admin

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

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Blooming Tropical Waterlilies in Indiana, during APRIL?

Posted 05/30/10

by admin

Update to Matt Garver’s overwintering of tropicals in Indiana, his plant (Panama Pacific) not only overwintered as we shared with you a few months ago in the Thermoplanter but it began blooming in April. He sent me these photos on April 24th but I have not had much time to update the blog. It is an amazing sight and makes the relatively low cost of the thermoplanter worth while.

Both images © Matthew Garver

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TUBER Video, Tim Davis Explains -Tropicals, Hardies, Dividing, and a lot more

Posted 05/13/10

by admin

Tim Davis recently tested a new video camera we hope we will be sharing all sorts of information with you over the coming years. Since there are few water lilies to look at in April in Ohio we sent the camera to Tim in Houston Texas where he got some clips of the 2010 Nelson’s spring kickoff party. The Pre-Season ponds at San Angelo and a whole bunch of interesting pond snippets mostly for testing purposes. I promise Tim, Myself, Ken Landon, Warner and a whole bunch of special pond folk and friends will make some contributions this year and hopefully add a little social content here over the summer. I do hope to see some of you in San Angelo, if you want to join us for the symposium or lilyfest this year please post a comment and we will get you in contact with the sign up forms.

The video is great in 720 High Definition.

This video is for use by Tim Davis, Water-Garden-Blog, IWGS, and International Waterlily Collection of San Angelo. Sharing unedited on Facebook or Twitter is OK.

Tim Davis is a hobbyist water gardener and waterlily hybridizer. When he can, he volunteers to help Ken Landon at the International Waterlily Collection (IWC) in San Angelo, Texas. One of his first hybrids is named Debbie Ann after his wife. In his free time he enjoys gathering data on waterlilies and hybridizers, running the IWC San Angelo website and is also webmaster for the International Waterlily and Water Garden Society as well as the current Journal Editor. He has a website (here) where he will sell some of his plants online in the summer and is a strong advocate of Ken Landon Fertilizer and Pond Tabs Fertilizer. In the future you will see Tim gets 5-10 blooms (sometimes more) per day off of single plants in relatively small containers.

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LOTUS SHIPPING NOW

Posted 04/20/10

by admin

Lotus are sent only in the spring. Freight to nurseries and tubers to homeowners. Anyone can grow their own lotus in 6-10 weeks in the USA and if planted in a pot in the pond it should come back every year.

Here are some lotus available now. Notice the growing tips on the tubers have many more starts than most growers. (Over 60 named varieties available today!)

https://www.pondmegastore.com/shop/home.php?cat=251

20 varieties are available to nurseries only in pots (45 per pallet, just about blooming size, contact us for details.

customerservice@pondmegastore.com see current selection below

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Cooking With Lotus

Posted 04/18/10

by admin

Coming this June we will ask Warner about his travels to Asia and the culinary experiences with lotus. The tubers which resemble the seed heads with the hollow areas and flower-like pattern are starchy and used throughout Asia in a little more enjoyable starch similar to a potato but with even more variety and of a much prettier plant. This Asian Cuisine Chef shows up some stuffed lotus pockets (that is what I would call them) and she explains some of the very good cullinary Asian mixes describing yin and yang. It actually reminded me of French cooking and palats but from a different cultural perspective, lingo, and different flavors and spices. Part 1 and Part 2 run about 6 minutes each. After the Chef we have an American in China who shops and prepares Fresh lotus root from the marketplace, here you can better view the lotus harvested in China.

Part 2

Buy Fresh Lotus Root (tubers) see this quick sample

For a really good time, if you are into cooking and like the food network. The 100th episode of the JAPANESE verisonof Iron Chef is dedicated to Lotus cooking. I love Iron Chef America but the Japanese version is a little hard with the music and dubbing. The funniest thing about this is a few seconds into part 2 the iron chef states he has never cooked lotus before. The secret ingredient must be used in every dish. Perhaps Japan is a less common Asian favorite of Lotus.

Part 1 Note its about 7 minutes when they unveil the Lotus so you can fast forward.
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5