There were a total of 31 entries; 16 Hardy, 10 Tropical Dayblooming, 4 Tropical Nightblooming, and 1 Inter Subgeneric cross (Tropical x Hardy) which is our largest contest to date. We had entries from Cyprus, Thailand, The United States, Canada, and Taiwan.
We also had several other firsts for the contest with 4 nightbloomers being entered and our first documented Inter Subgeneric cross, Siam Pink. Inter Subgeneric crosses are a cross between Tropical and Hardy Waterlilies that until recently were not thought possible. Pairat Songpanich has done several of these crosses that he has documented by DNA testing and entered Siam Pink this year. This will be a growing category for the competition since we know of several other hybridizers that are doing work in this area and we should see more entries into this new category.
The other significant occurrence was the success of the Hardy Waterlily category taking 5 of the top 10 spots in the overall contest. In past contests, tropicals took the top spots but we had an exceptional field of hardy entries this year.
Here are the top four winning Waterlilies:
Wanvisa – Best New Hardy Waterlily and Best New Waterlily 2010; Nopchai Chansilpa, Thailand
Bimini Twist – Best New Tropical and 2nd Best New Waterlily 2010; Florida Aquatics, Unites States
Maeploi – Best New Nightblooming Waterlily 2010; Sompon Janjungerm, Thailand
Siam Pink – Best New Inter Subgeneric Waterlily; Pairat Songpanich, Thailand
The contest was held at Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University under the care of Horticulturist Tamara Kilbane. Tamara and her staff grew out all of the contest entries and Tamara took the contest photos that were used for the online judging.
The Judging Panel consisted of 11 selected individuals that have years of experience with the genus Nymphaea.
Kit Knotts – Water Gardeners International
Jim Purcell – Oregon Aquatics
Kelly Billing – Maryland Aquatic Nurseries
Richard Sacher – American Aquatic Gardens
Barbara Davies – Flora Bella
Farley See – Moore Water Gardens
Deb Spencer – Water’s Edge Nursery
Tim Jennings – Longwood Gardens
Stu Schuck – Charleston Aquatic Nurseries
John Loggins – Lone Star Aquatic Nursery
Dr. Huang Ghozen – Chinese Waterlily World
Tamara Kilbane took all lily photos. Noriyuki Kato took the photo of Nopchai accepting his award from the IWGS President Jim Purcell.
Anyone that is interested in entering the 2011 IWGS New Waterlily Contest can contact Mike Swize, mike@nelsonwatergardens.com for more information.
