The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Water => Topic started by: Daisy on August 29, 2011, 07:42:11 AM
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It is the first year for my little pond. The twelve assorted goldfish, that were introduced in May seem to spend all of their time breeding!!! ;) ;) ;) There are now over thirty at least!
All the deep water aquatics seem to be very happy. This is Nymphaea Mayla. I love her deep rich colour.
She has produced a lot of blooms, considering it is her first year.
Daisy :)
(http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss112/daisyincrete/022.jpg)
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Daisy, lovely picture; is Mayla as fragrant as they say?
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Believe it or not although Cyprus is a dry island it is home to a world-renowned water-lily breeder. Andreas Protopapas has been growing and breeding water-lilies as a hobby for over 25 years. He has provided plants to the RHS Garden Wisley and has won awards in competitions around the world. In 2005 his entry Nymphaea 'Maria' won the top prize at the Banksin water-lily competition in the USA for example.
His plants can be seen on http://nymphaea.awardspace.com/default.htm.
The photos are of Nymphaea 'Moorei' ('Mooreana') that I got from him several years ago. I believe this comes originally from Australia, being bred at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens around 1900. The plant in the background is the Thalia dealbata I mentioned in an earlier posting and seems to have settled in well, having produced one flower spike with another on the way.
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Daisy, 'Mayla' is a true gem!
Thanks a lot for the link, John - the water-lilies bred by Andreas Protopapas are breathtaking!
Here N. x daubenyana resulted hardy for the last 10 years - motivated by this success I am trying now some other blue water lilies - time will show if they like the local conditions.
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Alisdair. The last time I tried to smell the perfume of a plant in the pond, it was the Aponogeton distachyos. I tripped and ended up with my head completely under the water!!! :o :o :o
So, I cannot yet tell you about Mayla's perfume.
John J. Those water lilies of Andreas Protopapas are amazing. When my husband was building my pool, I was trying to contact Mr Protopapas, as I had read about the visit to his nursery by the Cyprus branch.
I could not contact him however, but I am happy with how my little pond has turned out.
Nymphaea Moorei is gorgeous. It is the colour of Cornish Ice Cream. It looks good enough to eat!
HansA. It is really good to see your blue water lilies. It is so interesting seeing and hearing about other people's gardens. Which other blue water lilies have you planted? Is this their first year?
Daisy :)
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Daisy, I'm sorry to hear that you had trouble contacting Andreas. He works as an engineer full-time, water-lilies are his hobby, albeit a time-consuming one. If ever you want to get in touch with him in future and have the same problem let me know and I'll see what I can do.
HansA, am I right in thinking that your blue water-lilies are tropicals and not hardys? One of Andreas' ambitions is to breed a true blue hardy water-lily.
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Thanks Daisy and John!
You are certainly right - the blue waterlilies belong all to the 'tropical' ones (Subgenus Brachyceras) and not to the so called hardy ones (Subgenus Nymphaea) - crosses have been made between the both subgenus and Pairat Songpanich was the first to create a blue hardy one ('Hardy Blue Siam') - unfortunately it seems not to be very vigerous and as I know it is not in trade so far.
N. x daubenyana is also such a tropical nymphaea but grows well in a small water basin for many years without any protection in winter here in my garden - the others are still in a testing phase.
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I had heard that a blue hardy water lily had been bred and checked. Nymphaea 'Siam Blue Hardy' does seem impressive but if the photographs are anything like the true colour I would say it is quite a mauve colour rather than blue. Certainly not as blue as some of the tropical ones. Still quite an achievement.
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Certainly you are right - 'Siam Blue Hardy' does not have the perfect blue some tropical have, hope there will be better hardy blues in nearer future - meanwhile I am checking if my hardy nymphaea in the middle of the blue tropicals produces any seedpod... ;)
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Surprisingly I found some selfsown nymphaea seedlings (I suppose?) next to my other plants.
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Maybe the last flowers for this year.
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Stunning, Hans!
The electric blue reminds me of the electron cloud surrounding the cathode in thermionic valves (http://pediaview.com/openpedia/Vacuum_tube), which I used to experiment with as a lad (using parts scrounged from old wireless radios from jumble sales). I used to love peering into the innards of an EF80, for instance, to see that magic glow.