Paula Biles Interview (Part 2)

PART 2         (To Learn more about Paula see the introduction in Part 1)

Q You note some interesting research by scientists in the book. It has been a couple of years since the book was first released as a booklet. Are there any new technological developments that have been sparked by the lotus you have come across?

It has been written that the lotus is the world’s most researched plant. Although I have no idea if that’s true, there is always some interesting investigations. Not everything is technology related, but they are fascinating for nelumbo-holics.

1)      The Chinese have sent lotus seeds into space in order to alter how they grow.

2)      Lotus DNA from varieties growing around the world is being used to track their ancestry and ‘migration’ … often with surprising results.

3)      The Lotus Effect®, as discovered by German scientists decades ago, has found practical applications into many products. An excellent video demonstrating the nano technology properties is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl35HS-3Mrc&feature=related (click the link to view video in new window)

4)      Do a Google Scholar search for <Nelumbo> to see some of the research.

Q Are lotus in other continents used mainly in the country of origin or exported? (Nancy’s question)

The lotuses used in Asian countries are predominantly grown within each country, especially when it comes to food and religious purposes. Some of those countries also export lotus in many forms and for several purposes, including ornamental gardening and food. For example, there are dried  tubers, leaves, stamens, seedheads, petals and seeds, as well as live flowers, plants, and tubers. Since all parts of the plant are used in one form or another, there is a market for them. Until other countries are able to produce Nelumbo on a larger scale, Asian countries are usually the source.

On a related note, Auburn University is studying the viability of growing lotus in Alabama as a food crop. You can read more about the Auburn University Lotus Project at http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landscape/AU_Lotus_Project_Page.html.

Q From our store and from our blog we meet new people every day just beginning a water garden or perhaps even having had a water garden for more than a decade. There is so much misinformation given to consumers from gimmicks, to just plain incorrect advice. Often rumors like plants cause algae, plants should not be planted in dirt, and many more than I could even list; I am afraid that the majority of water garden owners never will find good information on water gardening and for so many it is not a relaxing entity in their yard but another project that is never complete. The online community of water gardeners has begun to gel together through IWGS, Facebook, water garden forums,  a few decent local communities, and a handful of important books, The Lotus, Perry Slocum’s Book, I am also a big fan of Robert Sawyer’s Water Gardens & Goldfish of which I have 2 copies. Is the average homeowner that doesn’t look in the right places for proper advice of out of luck or have we just not had a big enough voice until the age of the internet to really focus on what works, the truth so to speak. Do you see landscapers, box stores, and slightly ill informed garden centers as a help or a hindrance to the hobby of water gardening.  For every person who loves water gardening and enjoys it, it seems one person found it an overbearing chore.  

Some good references you can think of?

It’s probably hard for you to believe, but the lack of information and glut of misinformation is substantially less of a problem now than it was when I started water gardening in the 1980s. (And I had it much easier than the people who started out in the 1960s.) In the past decade there have been a couple dozen books published on water gardening and aquatic plants. Most are very good and some are even geared to regions of the country or specialties like container water gardens. There are several excellent and authoritative internet sites with an incredible depth and breadth of information. Plus the equipment and materials to build a pond has advanced by leaps and bounds.

The one area that seems to be lagging is an understanding of what actually happens in a pond … what’s going on in the water …. what fish do and do not need …  how plants grow …  in short, pond ecology. Once people have an understanding of the big picture — how the pond works –  then they can better understand how its inhabitants influence another. It will guide pondowners on what to do and what to avoid. It will help them work with nature and ignore crazy suggestions from well-meaning friends.

(As a collector of old water gardening books, I find it interesting that you mentioned Robert Sawyer’s book, which is from 1928. There are several other old classics that I adore and would never part with. One is the most scientific water lily book ever written – The Waterlilies –  by Henry Conard in 1905.)

Q Other than lotus, are water lilies just as interesting to you? They get more attention and perhaps that is a good reason to write the book on the lotus. 

Tropical lilies were the first aquatic plants to captivate me and I’ve been growing them ever since I had a pond. The engineering of water lilies is also fascinating, the ways that nature created a plant ideally suited to its environment. This is best demonstrated by the giant Victoria water lily. Besides the beauty of tropicals, I love their fragrance and the fact they also bloom at night.

The reason Kelly and I wrote about lotuses is that they are so interesting on so many levels, to so many cultures, and for so long in history. In addition there was a lack of written material about them.

To Be Continued….