International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society Spring, 2005 Volume 20, Number 1 Page 2 The Water Garden Journal Vol. 20, No. 1 In This Issue President’s Comments Page 2 President’s Comments by Wayne Davis by Wayne Davis, Jr. Page 3 Executive Director’s Comments It is hard to believe that Spring is only two weeks away, given the fact that the temperature outside today is in the by Paula Biles teens. Having just returned from a swing through Texas Page 3 IWGS Committee Chairs where the temperature was 50 degrees higher and lilies are in bloom we are very anxious for warm weather here. Page 4 The Grower’s Corner Visiting with Ken Landon in San Angelo we were by John Loggins hopeful that we would get to see the new ponds being Page 5 Aquatic Palms built there for one of our IWGS Certified Collections. Unfortunately, due to weather delays the ponds were not by Jorge Monteverde yet completed. Ken hopes to have them operational by Page 12 The 10% Solution the middle of April. What we were able to see looks by Dick Schuck extremely exciting and should be quite spectacular. If you are anywhere close to San Angelo this season it Page 13 Affiliate Societies would be well worth your time to visit this facility. by Tom Frost Hopefully, if you have not already done so, you are Page 14 Water Gardens on Tour planning to contribute to our Memorial Fund which will by Suzan Phillips be used to recognize eminent individuals from within our Page 14 Extreme Pond Plants industry who have passed on. by Rowena Burns We are looking forward to a great symposium in Page 15 News and Notes Bethlehem, PA. Our symposium chairperson, Susan Davis, and host, Tom Tilley, have put together an Page 15 Symposium Update exciting program that you will not want to miss. The Page 16 Committee Reports speakers are listed in this journal. Page 18 Perry Slocum A special thanks to Rolf Nelson and his outstanding by Charles Thomas committee who did a superb job in selecting the and Peter Slocum recipients of our research grants. These grants were given for applied research and we hope that they will Page 20 Society Information provide important and useful information to further enhance our industry and hobby. Also, our sincere IWGS Memorial Fund Established thanks go to Steve Stroupe, whose efforts helped raise the funds for this very important project. The Society has created a Memorial Fund so friends, relatives, and admirers can honor the memory of Hall of Fame nominees have been accepted and the individuals enthralled by aquatic plants. If you would winners will be announced at the Symposium. Also, if like to pay tribute and celebrate the life of someone who has directly or indirectly benefited water gardeners, you are planning to enter a new plant for our annual New please add your gift to the Fund. Your thoughtful gift Waterlily Competition please be sure that it reaches the st will be combined with others and be used for projects to appropriate location during the week of May 1 . advance water gardening. A thank you letter will be sent to the honoree’s family. Perry D. Slocum’s family has As we enter the busiest time of the year for our endorsed this Fund as a fitting memorial for him—a commercial members, it is difficult to get all of the devoted aquatic nurseryman, hybridizer, author, committee work completed in a timely fashion. Please photographer, mentor, promoter, and teacher. Please volunteer to assist with this work. we need your help! send your contribution soon to honor Perry’s legacy. Think Spring and Happy Pondering W. Wayne Davis, Jr. Vol. 20, No. 1 The Water Garden Journal Page 3 Executive Director’s Comments IWGS Committee Chairs by Paula Biles Audit New Waterlily Occasionally writing checks can be very satisfying, Wayne Davis Competition especially when the money will be spent on aquatic plant studies. So it was with great pleasure that we Craig Presnell Constitution/ sent checks to the recipients of this year’s research Bylaws Nominating grant awards. Thanks to the work of a dynamic and Rowena Burns Brad McLane creative individual, the donations of many water garden businesses, and the generosity of bidders, our Executive Public Relations Special Auction at the 2004 Symposium raised $9377 Wayne Davis (Volunteer needed) for research projects. One of the Society’s main goals is to support aquatic plant research and we’re looking Fundraising Registration forward to bringing you the results of their work. Jim Purcell Advisory (You can read more about the winning grants on page Wayne Davis 17.) Honors & Awards Research & You should have received a copy of the 2005 Tom Tilley Scholarships Symposium Registration Brochure, with preliminary Rolf Nelson itineraries for both the Main (July 20-24) and the Int’l Waterlily Post-Symposium (July 25-26). There is a large Preservation Special Projects/ horticultural show (Pennsylvania Allied Nursery Ken Landon Auction Trade Show) on the following day, about 40 miles Tish Folsom away. Our hosts, Tilley’s Nursery & Waterworks, Invasive Species will arrange for free entry and transportation if there is Barre Hellquist Symposium & enough interest. Be sure to contact Tom Tilley before Programming Journal/ June 13 if you would like to attend. Susan Davis Editorial Board Would you like additional Registration Brochures to James Allison Trials and distribute to friends, colleagues, customers, or Club Collections Library members? I will be delighted to send some. Just email Bob Burns or call to let me know how many. Walter Pagels Victoria This year we have more flexible registration options Membership Conservancy to accommodate those with busy schedules. In Cathy Green Nancy Styler addition, early birds get a big discount to make things easier on their pocketbooks and our planning. This Website year we’ve got an extra incentive to get your Wayne Davis registration in right away. The 13th registration received will get a complimentary room upgrade to a one-bedroom suite at our host hotel. Editor’s Note: We encourage you to become By the way, if you haven’t sent in your 2005 involved with IWGS activities. It’s a great way to learn, network, and help the Society. membership dues, you won’t be reading this; your membership has expired. If you have a friend who To join a committee contact the Chairperson hasn’t yet renewed, tell them to mail, fax, or email it shown above using your 2003/2004 in. Membership Directory or contact the Executive Paula Biles Director, who is an ex-official member of all committees, as is the President. Page 4 The Water Garden Journal Vol. 20, No. 1 The Grower’s Corner by John Loggins Lotus Propagation Regardless of what the groundhogs in the USA customers. The smaller tubers and the ones predict, spring usually kicks off in late February damaged during harvest are floated for a few weeks with lotus “season.” Many hours will be spent in and used for replanting next year’s crop. Even frigid water harvesting dormant tubers for maimed lotus without any obvious signs of life will shipments. By the end of April in the southern be given a chance to re-sprout as these plants often USA, growing tips of lotus have elongated from a have more than one growing tip. The only thing left dormant couple of inches to several feet and are after this long process is lengthy sections of lifeless now producing aerial leaves and flower buds. “runners” or roots that seem destined for the Transplanting at this time is ill-advised so the sales compost pile. However, after examining a slice of window of opportunity has closed and the next crop these honeycomb shaped spheres it is obvious to me should already be planted for the following spring. that this is the primary ingredient in a popular breakfast cereal. This is just a hunch and I am certainly not a food scientist, but I do know a lot about food and how to eat it. We grow our lotus in containers as small as fifty gallons up to rubber-lined production tanks that take up five hundred square feet. To decrease harvest time, all of these areas are about fourteen inches deep. Fifteen pounds of slow release fertilizer are broadcasted into the bottom of the larger ponds. Our native sandy loam is then mixed with approximately ten percent compost and spread to an inconsistent depth of seven inches. Though lotus are heavy feeders, if the soil is too rich in organic matter it can have an adverse effect on tuber quality or production. After filling the tank with water, the remaining lotus are planted. Once the plants begin producing standing leaves, more fertilizer will be added through August. We toss in another five or so pounds every three weeks of whatever we can find cheap, usually a 13-13-13 lawn fertilizer from the feed store. For obvious reasons, this is not a recommended method for the backyard pond. Several tubs of lotus tubers ready for planting By the end of the summer we have enjoyed countless lotus blossoms and forgotten how hard As we harvest the lotus, the larger tubers are graded this job is. I can begin gearing up for next spring and cut from the growing tip end back two or three and as much as I would like to depend on a stubby joints between the narrowest portions of the tuber. legged, overweight rodent (the groundhog) to A maximum shipping length of eighteen inches determine when I break my winter hibernation, I’ll matches the standard lotus container used by our probably continue to rely on the plants.