Victoria-Adventure

larger, redder pads with rather low rims. Cruziana is greener, has higher rims, and is more tolerant of cool- Victoria er temperatures than its equatorial cousin. All Victoria are night blooming, scenting the afternoon and evening air with their pineapple fragrance in ‘Adventure’ anticipation of the first night flower, huge and white. The second night cruziana is delicately flushed pink. — The New Kid Amazonica becomes cotton candy pink to ruby red depending on the individual plant. by Kit Knotts In 1961 Longwood Gardens’ Patrick Nutt success- photos by Ben & Kit Knotts fully made the first, and until now, only cross of the two species with cruziana as pod parent and amazonica as pollen parent. The resulting V.’Longwood Hybrid’ possesses the best attributes of both parents — large pads with nice rims and a reddish edge and the tolerance of cooler temperatures of cruziana. In here’s a new kid on the Victoria general, the pads are larger than either parent and it tends to bloom earlier, making it the ideal display block, the spanking new hybrid plant for botanic gardens around the world. Victoria ‘Longwood Hybrid’ (V. cruziana x V. amazonica, Patrick Nutt) first night flower the next morning. An expedition to the Amazon in the spring of 1998 ‘Adventure.’ It is the reciprocal of led to greater availability of amazonica seeds, allow- ‘Longwood Hybrid,’ and has long ing more of us to grow parent plants for making two species to cross. The project mushroomed ‘Longwood Hybrid’ and to experiment with when we decided to build a special pond, beenT considered an “impossible” cross. But it other possible crosses. (See Pond & Garden, “Reflection,” on the ocean side of the garden does exist! And it is blooming! And it is Issue #3 for Rich Sacher’s tale of this quest.) especially for five Victoria. The reciprocal cross to ‘Longwood Hybrid,’ Rich, a master at starting babies, jump-start- different! amazonica as pod parent and cruziana as pollen ed our season by sending us a cruziana grown parent, was successfully made in 1998 in three from seeds from Longwood Gardens, an ama- different locations, here in Cocoa Beach, zonica from seeds collected in the wild, and The giant water lily Victoria has captured the Florida, by my husband Ben and me, in ‘threw in’ a ‘Longwood Hybrid.’ Stan Skinger imagination of the world from the very first glimpse Greenwood Village, Colorado, by the Victoria provided wild amazonica seeds (as well as ines- of it in its wild South American home in 1801. Named Conservancy’s Trey and Nancy Styler, and in St. timable support) from which we grew two more for Queen Victoria, it was nearly 50 years later that it Louis at the Missouri Botanical Garden by Joe plants. Walter Pagels sent us sprouted seeds was first brought to bloom in “captivity” in England, Summers. from his long-selfed cruziana, adding two more inspiring a wave of enthusiasm for its size and the How did two hobbyist water lily growers in plants to the mix. beauty of its flowers. Central Florida become so hooked on Victoria Through sheer ignorance of how others There are two species in the magnificent genus that we wanted to try crossing them? That’s easy hybridized, we developed new, quick, highly Victoria. V. amazonica, once called V. regia, grows in when you have a friend like Rich Sacher of effective techniques for crossing the Victoria. quiet pools and inlets of the mighty Amazon River. V. American Aquatic Gardens, New Orleans, Ignoring conventional wisdom, we tried every cruziana, also called V. trickeri, inhabits cooler cli- Louisiana. Rich knew that our single Victoria cross we could think of and at varying times. mates of Argentina, Bolivia, and Paraguay. each year produced lots and lots of seeds with Over our very long growing season, we pro- Victoria ‘Adventure’ (V. amazonica x V. cruziana) first night flower still open Amazonica, from its tropical home, tends to have the next morning. no help from us and urged us to try growing the duced more than 18,000 seeds from 200 flowers 20 Pond & Garden “Creating backyard havens.” 21 work of friends through every step, our ‘Adventure.’ It seemed the right name for the new hybrid. When we discovered that the Stylers and Joe Summers had also made the cross successfully, we asked if they would join us in the naming, and they agreed. Our seeds proved viable, as did the Stylers’ and the Summers’, the first one sprouting spon- taneously in a jar on our kitchen counter. Even as seedlings, they appeared a little different from the species and the ‘Longwood Hybrid.’ As floating leaves developed, they could be identified by color. ‘Adventure’ here in Cocoa Beach is growing directly beside ‘Longwood Hybrid,’ both with Bud of V. ‘Adventure’ the same parent plants, just reversed. ‘Adventure’ has 25% on the seven plants, which larger pads than ‘Longwood Victoria ‘Adventure’ second night flower at 7 p.m. included the seeds for the new Hybrid’ with somewhat lower hybrid. Bud of V. ‘Longwood Hybrid’ rims relative to pad size. The When we sent all of our sur- ‘Adventure’ pads have a more Where ‘Longwood Hybrid’ buds are rather to this adventure, and his hybrid has mothered plus seeds to the Conservancy, we asked for the olive cast to the green upper surface and a squat and rounded, ‘Adventure’ buds are more two more: ‘Discovery’ and ‘Challenger.’ Until right to name the new hybrid if it proved out deeper maroon rim. This plant and others slender and pointed, darker, and have more now such crosses having been considered really reported achieved mature size and bloomed thorns. These are clues to what the forthcoming impossible because of uneven chromosome sooner from germination. flowers will look like. And did we watch them numbers. They, too, are alive and growing. In closely when we first saw them! Of course, it the Victoria world, never say never! rained on the first flower. ‘Adventure’s’ flower is larger than Kit Knott has three loves in her life: husband Ben, ‘Longwood Hybrid’s’ by about an inch because of course, her Lippizaners, and hers and Ben’s of narrow, tapering petals as compared to many water gardens and the aquatic life therein. P ‘Longwood’s’ wider, rounded petals. In the & G is grateful for Kit’s sharing part of that love and flowers sacrificed to the cutting board, its fruit V. ‘Adventure’ with all of us. ‘Adventure’ had more, though thinner, petals. Congratulations Ben and Kit, Nancy and Trey, and Petals: V. ‘Adventure’, top; V. ‘Longwood Hybrid’, bottom The second night flowers of ‘Adventure’ take Joe! Well done! their color from the particular amazonica par- and were urged to go ahead and name it based ent, pale to dark pink, whereas ‘Longwood on having produced the seeds. We have called Hybrid’ is medium pink. this incredible journey through construction, We hope ‘Adventure’ will enjoy just a mea- propagation, basic botany, anatomy and floral sure of the renown of Pat Nutt’s famed ‘surgery,’ helped by a worldwide E-mail net- Sepals: V. ‘Adventure’, left; V. ‘Longwood Hybrid’, right ‘Longwood Hybrid.’ His pioneering has led us 22 Pond & Garden “Creating backyard havens.” 23 ity, but we make no claims beyond our own The Secret um was in a sunny window but had a sub- experience. to Starting Victoria Seeds mersible heater to maintain the water at 85 Where do ideas come from? In this case they degrees at night, as well as an airstone for cir- have come from the synergy of a large group of — Open the Door! culation and oxygenation. Our initial germi- people, many who may not even realize how nation rate was an abysmal 6%, even after much they have helped us. We are not saying Growing Victoria begins with starting many weeks “cooking.” they agree with us, support us, or, in some cases, babies from seed, and those seeds are histori- If you look carefully at the pea-sized seed, even believe us, but we want to say thank you to cally difficult to get going. It makes sense that it is eggshaped and smooth. At the small end all of them, most especially Rich Sacher, Stan Mother Nature would find ways to protect an of the egg is the point where the seed was Skinger, and Nancy Styler. aquatic seed from predators, attached to the pod. As the One large seed pod collected during the Amazon River trip in 1998 contained over 1,000 seeds. After cleaning the seeds, they were Others who have been part of the synergy are pathogens, and rot in an ever- seed coating matures and stored in water. Photo by Rich Sacher Guillermo Angulo, Paula Biles, Dr. Monroe changing and sometimes harsh hardens, this spot makes Birdsey, Nancy Coile, Gary Davis, Bill Frase, environment. But those same itself into a little trapdoor. The Chicken or the Egg? AJ Hicks, Jack Honeycutt, Tim Jennings, protections make it difficult The embryo is directly In retracing our steps through the “adven- Andre Leu, Pat Nutt, Walter Pagels, Yosef for those of us who want to cul- beneath it with the rest of ture” that led to the creation of Victoria Porat, Rob Robinson, Dirk Rosenburg, Betsy tivate it in the pampered luxu- the seed containing food ‘Adventure,’ where do we begin? With starting Sakata, Dr. Ed Schneider, Joe Summers, Jim ry of our gardens! We who for the future sprout. seeds or making seeds? In real time, we made Thiele, Cyndie Thomas, and Butch Weaver. strive to grow Victoria have all If you carefully remove the seeds first, bumbling our way experienced the anxious wait- the “door,” really called to discoveries that explode many ing for a single seed in 10 or 20 the operculum, with the tip myths and previously held beliefs to make its beautiful white nub of a scalpel or an exacto Labeled picture of the trapdoor.

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