Waterlilies and Pond Plants, Lotus and Water Garden News

Jennifer Rebecca, by Ken Landon

Posted 02/10/11

One of my very favorite waterlilies from Ken Landon he developed back around 1990 and has been in the trade for a few years.

Jennifer Rebecca is a very deep red nightblooming waterlily that can stay open very late each morning and will not wilt as other deep red waterlilies do in the summer heat. Ken used Trudy Slocum and red flare in multiple crosses to get this very tolerant and high performance night bloomer. If you ever want to try a red night blooming pond plant this is the one.

Night bloomers often begin blooming a couple weeks later in the summer than tropical day bloomers so give it a couple weeks to establish but the blooms will last until frost. They also tuber easily and can be overwintered as tubers indoors!

Click the video to see the flowers and story of the Jennifer Rebecca waterlily by Ken Landon. This waterlily is for sale at Pond Megastore.

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Well Fed Waterlilies…

Posted 02/8/11

by admin

How do your waterlilies perform? Most comercially available new varieties of waterlilies are pretty good bloomers, as are many old ones. Many tropical waterlilies will have an enormous amount of blooms when properly planted.

1. Do you have the right size container?A two gallon container is pretty standard for medium water gardens but most lilies would like more space. Hardy lilies like a lot of horizontal room, consider a 12-20″ across if you don’t want to re-pot them every year, it does not need to be deep, something the size of a sturdy dishpan is great or a black colored kitty litter pan will last a couple years. A tropical waterlily can enjoy a pot 3-20 gallons in size. Lots of soil and fertilizer to boot. Let us take a look at a few plants,

a new variety available for the first time in 2011 is Ken Landon’s ‘Rhapsody In White” (video below) Tim Davis sent me a tuber last summer after I fell in love with it at the International Waterlily Collection and is now probably my favorite star waterlily (flavovirens hybrid). It is very cold tolerant, possibly more so than some viviparous tropical waterlilies and can survive winters with ice on the pond. Chocolate pads surround a bouquet of wonderful white flowers standing high above the surface. Six blooms per day is not uncommon and plant 2 or more in a large container and you can have over a dozen flowers each morning.

Click on Video below to Play in HD

2. During the growing season waterlilies need fertilizer (and please plant them in SOIL). Though you can plant these plants in kitty litter trays don’t buy overpriced cat litter sold as aquatic plant medium (black kitty litter trays are preferable but after 2 weeks any dark color will be hidden by the pond film). Real soil, a heavy clay/topsoil or loam is perfect (potting soil is light and will float, avoid that as it is disaster). If you add a good fertilizer like Ken Landon’s waterlily fertilizer or osmocote 180 day granulars (or both) to the soil you may not have to fertilze again all season. In the south where growing season are longer you can start with granular and add pond tabs the second half of the season if your fertilizer begins to run out.

In June 2010 I visited Nelson’s Water Garden in Texas where you can see how big lilypads and flowers actually can get when you feed them, this is Foxfire which had been growing in the pond for a couple months. Mike Swize puts his hand on a pad to show the relationship in size. Note I also grew fozfire and kept with less fertilzier in a smaller pot can keept the plant blooming just as much but stays about 1/3rd the size of this giant.

Click on Video below to Play in HD

3. Sunshine and warm weather. Waterlilies actively grow when water temps are in the mid to high 60s and like lots of direct sunlight. Full shade is not helpful for blooming even on shade tolerant plants. Planting your plants when its still early is not great either. Cold water can make tropical waterlilies go to sleep. Just because it was 82 degrees yesterday does not make it good planting weather if the bottom of your pond is 55. You want low temps to be nothing below 55 or so for 2 weeks straight before getting the plants in the pond from actively growing in waters elsewhere. You can plant dormant plants in water as cool as 45 just dont expect them to grow much until warmer weather.

Here is a look at hardy Helvola after a few week in the sun in a 20″ wide container. Each flower is only about 2″ across as this is a hardy dwarf waterlily.

Click on Video below to Play in HD

All three of the waterlilies shown are available at www.PondMegastore.com

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Lotus in containers and water gardens

Posted 01/29/11

by admin

Earlier this week we have added out 100th video. Most all now in high definition so we hope you can enjoy them in full screen to get a great view of some of the plants. I recently viewed the videos in HD on a 60 inch tv and the quality was remarkable if you choose either 720 or 1080 settings.

This year I will try and use the tripod more often to better stay in focus and less shaky. Plans are to travel to 12 locations in 2011 on three different trips. Not even half of the video from 2010 has been added at this time. In HD it takes much of the day to upload just a few minutes of footage.

The 100th video we uploaded is per request from our friend Karen who wanted to see some shots of lotus growing in containers and in water gardens. The first shot is just a bee doing some work inside a lotus bud. Enjoy and we have more information coming as soon as we finish more spring preparations. Laura should soon be sending information on even more Chinese Lotus selections that will be available in February. (http://www.PondMegastore.com)

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Texas White List Law is DOA, just hours before the vote of the aquatic plant ban!

Posted 01/27/11

by admin

The good news flowed from Austin to Houston Tuesday…

Here’s the official press release from Senator Hegar’s office:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 26, 2011

FOR INFORMATION CONTACT
Lisa Craven (512) 463-0118

Hegar Rejects White List Proposal at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

State Senator says concept is unrealistic approach for Texas

Austin, Texas—Today, Texas State Senator Glenn Hegar called on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s (TPWD) Executive Director, Carter Smith, to forego further work and cease implementation on the proposed aquatic plant species “white list” and the accompanying rules. Senator Hegar will sponsor a bill during the current legislative session that clarifies this request in statute.

“While I certainly think that a great deal of progress has been made, I am not confident that the arrived-upon proposal is enforceable or realistic for Texas. With the list and rules now complete, it is clear that approval of this measure would severely impact our state’s economy and the biofuel, nursery, and gardening industries across the state,” said Senator Hegar.

Through House Bill 3391 of the 81st Legislature, TPWD was directed to establish a “white list” of non-native aquatic plants approved for sale or possession in Texas. The process proved onerous as stakeholders continually came forth with new concerns and species not yet included. In September 2010, with the deadline fast approaching and the list not yet complete, Senator Hegar granted the Department a time extension in an effort to ensure that all necessary information was considered in the creation of the “white list.”

In his letter to TPWD requesting they forego further work on the “white list”, Hegar acknowledged the hard work and countless hours spent compiling a “white list” and commended the Department for their sincere and diligent collaboration with stakeholders throughout the process, but was clear that the project should be abandoned in the face of his and many others strong and decided view that it is simply not a viable solution.

“I don’t believe any of us understood the full scope and significant ramifications that adoption of a white list would present. It is my hope that we can continue to work toward a common-sense solution to prevent the introduction of invasive plants into Texas while still protecting the environment and economy of Texas,” Hegar said. “It is vital that we continue to make a proactive effort to ensure that the natural resources across this state are protected for generations to come.”

…Credit is due to many people but for us we want to send a special thank you to Mr. Rolf Nelson.

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Extinct Waterlily Species N. capensis var Zanzibariensis

Posted 01/19/11

by admin

Still alive in choice collections such as the International Waterlily Collection and a few growers for crossing hybrids. This African native waterlily species is extinct in nature.

Species waterlilies are important as you cannot develop strong hybrids the further away from the species material that you have. You begin getting mutations and poor plant qualities. The IWC San Angelo as we always write about is home to the largest repository of species material in the world. Ken Landon has saved multiple species from extinction over the last few decades helping to release varieties back into the wild such as N. flavovirens in Mexico one of his personal favorites to use in crossing new hybrids.

Enjoy one of the few peeks of N. capensis var Zanzibariensis

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Pond Outlaws, Texas water plant legislation to sweep more states.

Posted 01/17/11

by admin

[UPDATE 1/27/2011: see the Jan 27th post where the Plant Ban is currently pulled from becoming new law]

Water Garden regulation is about to sweep the nation. Texas is finalizing the white list of approved Aquatic Plants. Soon all Taro (over 100 types of Elephant ears), Papyrus, Cattails, Creeping Jenny, and a number of other long time favorites of water gardens will be outlawed in Texas with fines of $2000 per incident.

New York, Maryland, and other states are already voicing that they intend to copy this new law prohibiting 100s of Aquatic Plants and destroying business. Why? Much of this has to do with boating. Hydrilla which travels from lake to lake on the bottom of unwashed boats is overtaking waterways. Giant salvinia can also travel like this. Both plants were restricted in Texas (a black list) which is fine. However the legislation passed in 2009 now states only studied and approved plants should be sold to the state. That leaves a very short list of plants to be sold.

As this legislation comes to more and more states the water garden industry will shrink considerably. Also the aquarium trade will be hit as the list does not include 43 aquarium plants common within that trade.

Normally Texas is a pro-business state but this really puts a dent in that thinking. Again this legislation is being copied right now in at least 3 states that we know of and as most laws will continue spreading.

This will hurt both aquarium hobbyists, pet industry jobs, water garden installers, aquatic plant growers and customers and pond societies. Complaints have come in from Canada as to concerns that they will not be able to order plants from Texas in the future due to this regulation.

See two news articles below with comments from our friends Tim Davis, Brandon McLane, and Rolf Nelson.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/01/15/2771870/texas-plan-to-combat-invasive.html

http://www.petproductnews.com/headlines/2011/01/12/texas-updates-white-list-of-aquatic-plants.aspx

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Peach Blow – Viviparous Waterlilies

Posted 01/16/11

by admin

Peach Blow, one of our best selling pink waterlilies, a mildly viviparous hybrid created by George Pring. It’s date of origin and publication is 1941. It has peach pink yellow petals shaped in a round shape. It has light green pads. With a recent visit with Longwood Gardens Waterlily expert Patrick Nutt he mentioned what a remakable waterlily it has been for the last seven decades.

The viviparous leaves (lilypads) develop new plantlets on many pads as they age. The roots and leaves can be easily seen where the stem and leaf come together as displayed in the HD video below.

visit Pond Megastore Pond Plants and Waterlily Nursery to Purchase online.

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‘TANZANITE’ Waterlily Has Arrived

Posted 01/13/11

by admin

Would you like to have some nice waterlilies sold locally?

Pond Megastore and Champion Bay Aquatics will be adding Tanzanite and about 8 other waterlilies to a list close to 200 other water lilies this spring which are shipped wholesale grown / blooming size to Garden Centers and Landscapers all over the United States.

Tanzanite was voted as the Best New Waterlily overall in 2009 and this is the first year of production. Developed by the McLane family at Florida Aquatic Nurseries in Florida they have worked quickly to build up supply and should have a good quantity at the beginning of the 2011 season. Tanzanite waterlily is the deepest purple on the market, very similar to the depth of ’N. capensis var zanzibariensis forma purpurea’ in my opinion.

Waterlily "Tanzanite" brand new, deep purple like no other on the market

This lily has slightly lower petal count than last years blockbuster hit “Ultra Violet“ which I feel is still a superior waterlily though this is a close second in the purple waterlily category. From my two weeks this summer in San Angelo Texas (June & September) I did not notice the slight color change from day to day that Ultra Violet did seem to have. On hot sunny days I noticed Ultra Violet sometimes seemed to become almost a dark blue by the second or third day of full sun. If conditions were not completely sunny the flowers stayed purple all 3 days of each blossom.

Ultra Violethas about 70 petals on adult flowers and Tanzanite about 50. The larger the plant the more petals so fertilizer and pot size is key to performance. The pads on the Ultra Violet changefrom red/green camouflage pattern to an almost full red during the summer which is a second benefit for a pond plant like no other.

Contact either customerservice@pondmegastore.com or info@championbayaquatics.com for prices lists and minimum order requirements. “Tanzanite“ is also now available direct to home purchase in the Annual Waterlilies listed on www.PondMegastore.com .

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Ken Landon: Magnificent work

Posted 01/9/11

by admin

Ken Landon of the International Waterlily Collection in San Angelo Texas is often featured on this blog for his many accomplishments. Today we are publishing his introduction video of “Blue Cloud”. This is one of the best attractions to Civic League Park, and Australian waterlily from Gigantea crossed back over and over again over the years to improve petal count and cold tolerance (the only downfall of many Australian nymphaea).

Below that I will post again the video with Tim Davis which has footage of the larger plants taken in September 2010 shortly prior to the Symposium and LilyFest. Ken’s video up first was taken in June 2010.

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Help keep the Water Garden Plants safe

Posted 01/6/11

by admin

The water garden industry is moderately regulated due to some invasive plants that have a tendency to invade native waters when hobbyists and collectors discard them in waterways. The “former” aquarium trade which is more widespread helped to release many submerged aquatics across North America for more than a century. Today with the internet most hobbyist are well aware of the dangers as are lawmakers who in some instances now ban everything.

This makes interstate sales of plants more and more difficult. Most US growers of aquatics are quite responsible. There are a few who sell invasive species to states that have banned certain plants. There are also growers that are selling non-inspected plants and waterlilies from the asian-pacific region that may be bringing in pathogens, viral or fungal, as well as other pests attached to the plants. It is good to know exactly where your plants came from or are being grown. Many good honest growers can let you know where the plants are grown.

Shipping aquatic plants in soil to California should only be done with companies certified nematode free per law. Companies selling water hyacinths as “Blue Shellflower” are breaking the law sending the plants to CA, AZ, NM, AR, ID, TX, LA, SC, MS, the City of Chicago and should be reported to the USDA or state Agriculture Leader. If this practice can be stopped we can stop bans on all aquatics such as the proposed White List in Texas and now possibly NY and MD.

This week Los Angeles inspectors discovered a khapra beetle in dry rice (food) which is one of the 10 most dangerous non-established pests in the United States. Not a problem for aquatic garden industry person however we are are risk of introducing similar product when shipping in overseas and can quickly spread state to state before its ever noticed.

Most growers are honest and most inventory in US grown however it is always best to check especially when ordering online.

Some safe retail sellers include:

Online: PondMegastore.com, MarylandAquatics.com

Texas: Nelson’s Water Gardens

New York: Bergen Water Gardens

Virginia: Springdale Watergardens

Utah: Desert Water Gardens

Washington: Hughes Water Gardens

Canada: Burns Water Gardens

more can be found on the IWGS and WGI websites. The IWGS website also lists all BANNED varieties/species by state updated often by Kelly Billing who keeps track for the industry.

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