Waterlilies: Jewels of the Water Garden

Waterlilies belong to the family of Nymphaeaceae, which comes from the Greek word “nymph.” According to Greek mythology, a nymph is a spirit of nature and imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting a river, woods or other location.

This will be the fourth year that the Naples Botanical Garden will host the International Waterlily & Gardening Society (IWGS) competition, August 24 through August 28, 2022. To the host garden, it is both an honor and a huge undertaking and commitment. According to the Garden’s website, the ornamental waterlilies are perhaps the Garden’s most cultivated plants, requiring significant hands-on tending. During the competition, the host garden takes on the responsibility for everything from growing the plants to maintaining their health to documenting their life cycles.

There is a lot of record keeping done during the duration of the competition such as taking notes, photos and measurement of the waterlilies, their petal sizes, appearance and health. Just like judging a beauty queen pageant, there is a score sheet that lists the judging criteria and guidelines of the competition.

Hybridizing is all about creating your own unique waterlily. For IWGS, this event is the world’s premier event for waterlily hybridizers. For the waterlily competitors, it is part science, part art and luck. They collect the genetics of existing plants and combine them with other waterlilies in the hope of creating a new color, shape, size and other unique characteristics that will make them stand out in the waterlily world.

The waterlilies which the hybridizers sent to the Garden as plants, tubers or rhizomes are growing in large tubs or containers. In summer of 2021, I had the privilege of visiting the tubs with the waterlilies in peak bloom around August/September. According to Kathy Cahill, The Garden received entries in the following categories: Hardy, Tropical Day-Bloomer, Tropical Night Bloomer, Hardy Intersubgeneric and Tropical Intersubgeneric. Twenty-six hybridizers from nine countries each submitted a plant for consideration.

The yearly competition also showcases the Garden’s extensive water garden and aquatic plant collections. With South Florida’s subtropical climate, the waterlilies are displayed year-round. Many of the hybridizers also donate their competition entries to the host garden which adds to their collection.

The judges come from a panel of international waterlily growers, botanical gardens and plant nurseries as well as experienced hybridizers and hobbyists. The waterlilies undergo a thorough 10-week observation period at the Naples Botanical Garden by Kathy Cahill, the Garden’s Aquatic Areas Manager. The desirable traits that judges are looking for are:

Color – Hybridizers are focusing on creating new colors or color combinations. 

Shape – Are the flowers star-shaped? Cup-shaped? Pointed? 

Height – Do they rest against the water’s surface, or do they rise well above it? 

Size – Are the flowers and pads large or small? Will this plant fit in your home garden pool? 

Number of petals – Some have long, sparse, dramatic petals, and others have layers upon layers of them.

The 2021 overall winner was Pornchai Sukkasemsamranjit of Thailand with his hardy intersubgeneric cross Nymphaea ‘Purple Zebra.’ He’s a veteran hybridizer who has won honors at the competition before. According to Cahill the “Purple Zebra” flowers consistently with six or more flowers a week and the contrast between flowers and pads is truly unique and visually arresting.” Cahill describes Purple Zebra as a cup-shaped beauty with mottled petals – dark purple, light purple, fuchsia and white contrasted by a tangerine-colored center and surrounded by leaves in a painterly pattern of green, red and brown.

Thanks to professional nature photographer Jim Robellard who shared his photos of the waterlilies taken while they were growing in the large tubs in the garden. He was lucky enough to have taken a perfect photo of the Purple Zebra 2021.