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
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good day i was amazed because i ve havent heard a purple / blue waterlily ive only knew is the green one .. well who is mike giles ? is he a scientist? how does the water lilys color turned in viloet / blue if the breed is same color green .. i want to learn more i hope to heard from you thank you
a green one? are you thingking of the pads or the flowers?
Wow that sounds amazing, what a sight that would be to have a purple lily in my backyard pond.
Plz Plz let me know when these “purple satins” become available, as well as any other hardy crosses Mr. Giles is producing. Does he have a web page available? Are any of his lilys available for sale now? Would love to see some of his other work. Very nice.
most likely look for 2012 or later. It takes a few years to build up supply on top of the fact only Mike knows what he wants to do with the plant. I dont know if he has a distributor in mind or wants to continue work before any public release.
Stay tuned.
Zac
Hi Zac I just discovered Water-Garden- Blog.
I will try to answer your questions.
I wish I had a green flowered lily ! I’m working on it, give me time.
I’m not a scientist or a gene splicer, just an obsessed hobbyist.
I plan on selling and growing my own lilies, at least at first. Spring of 2012 is the plan at this point.. Turtle Island Waterlilies is the name of my web site.
Purple satin will probably be the first of my hardy X tropical purples or blues to be released but there are many many more in the pipeline of many different colors.
Royal Satin is going to be a great lily in my opinion when it grows up this summer. The pics show only it’s first flower from seed in a gallon pot.. It looks more tropical in form to me and is a very dark true royal purple color with no pink at all. it reproduces and has a hardy rootstock also.
You can see some of my lilies on my Facebook page. I am putting up more pics as I have time. You can find me in the friends list on the International Waterlily Collection Facebook page or the Waterlily interest page.
Zac if you think that the leaves that you saw at the IWC were special just wait till you see what’s in the pipeline.
I will make an album of leaf pictures on my Facebook page soon to show them.
Mike Giles.
Hi Mike, glad you found this blog. I hope to have quite a few stories about your lilies this year. The photos you have added on facebook are beyone wonderful and your work is advancing so quickly into new territory. I think the ISG’s you are creating are the next big thing and you should be met with great success. Wish you could view the videos I am nearing 100 posted on youtube which many are on the blog and still have about 150 more from San Angelo to come.
Zac
Eventualy I will get high speed. I have friends with high speed maybe I wil visit and watch.
The ISGs are really fun. I have hardies crossed with night blooming tropicals but so far they are all day blooming and look very similar to the H X T day bloomers. Go figure ! Wierd leaves though.
H X T leaves are amazing and look like something you would see in space. Makes Arcenceil look boring.