lil hardies?

[milhousebarks]

Hi,
I have a Hermine and what the Texas Water Lily folks call a yellow pygmy lily and am quite enjoying them. I'm thinking of moving out some other plants to add another of the tiny hardy water lily plants and was wondering what people have as favorites - and where to buy them. I was thinking of maybe adding a laydekeri lilacea or maybe something like a perry baby red, but was wondering what others have grown and enjoyed. I know that some of the smaller lily plants don't like the heat and we are pretty toasty July and August here in northern Virginia, and very humid. So if there are any that are known to dislike the heat and I should stay away from, please let me know that as well.

Thoughts?

Oh, and is the yellow pygmy sold by Texas Water Lilies (http://texaswaterlilies.com/Hardywaterliliesorderpage.html) the same as Helvolva?

 

[adavisus]

Folk tend to read European or Northern sources of publications and give small lilies a position which gets too much heat or volatile temps to thrive. The l'il hardies like steady temps in the 60°-80°f range

Midday shade is going to moderate a hot Summer more to hardy waterlilies liking

L'il hardies, Berit Strawn, Andreana, Helvola, Tetragona, Joanne Pring, Gypsy, Pink Sparkle, among the more obvious

Some bonsai well to a small size... Chrysantha, Indiana, Liou, come to mind as 'adaptive'

A few names to ponder on, dinky sized hardy waterlilies....

Some are miniature, spreading no more than one foot wide, others are going to be two to three foot wide in good conditions. Some will adapt to being stunted, others can spread and sprawl a lot larger given a mud pond and room to spare

Helvola (yellow) Tetragona (white) and Joanne Pring (pink) are among the smallest hardy waterlilies.

Chrysantha, Aurora, Little Sue, Graziella, Indiana*, Charlies Choice ~ changeables

Hermine, Walter Pagels, Paul Hariot and Perry's White Wonder ~ white

Bateau, Little Sue, Cherokee, Clarissa, Ellisiana, Froebeli, James Brydon*, Laydeckeri Fulgens, Laydeckeri Purpurata, Perry's Baby Red*, Perry's Dwarf Red, Perry's Little Champion, Perry's Red Beauty, Perry's Red Star, Pygmaea Rubra, Reflective Flame, Sanguinea ~ Red

Pink Sparkle, Beldts Dwarf Pink, Mary Patricia, Perry's Fire Opal*, Jean Marie, Laydackeri Lilacea, Joanne Pring ~ pink

Berit Strawn ~ peach

There is some room for argument as to which you might call red, hot pink or pink, colours can vary in tone through their flowering season

* Some wiggle room on size and spread, Indiana is very much a medium size waterlily five feet wide in a fertile pond but can stunt down to two in a container

Chromatella, Pink Beauty and Rose Arey are fairly easy to grow at a small size.... less than three feet wide

Off the top of my head, there are others. Solfatare and Betsy Sakata are smallish yellows, though I forget where I put those, along with umpteen other dinky sized small ones which I won't remember till I bump into the label on their pots

Then, there are the umpteen un named varieties with no name

among which 'Lost White' is a favourite

No the TWL photo is not Helvola. Photo of Helvola below. Picture quality is a tad coarse, a creaky scan from a slide

Regards, andy
http://www.pinterest.com/adavisus/pondering/

 

[addy1]

Nice list andy! thanks One of these days I will get some.

 

[milhousebarks]

Just a quick update on my existing lilies in case someone checks this thread to see more about Hermine or the yellow Pygmy. My Hermine produced its first bloom and is quite lovely. So far the flower has been open 3 days in a row - maybe I'll get a forth, a fifth? It is a really beautiful bright white with the yellow in the center and the pads are a nice deep green. The flower is about 5 inches across. My only complain is that it sure isn't a dwarf. It is easily spreading to 3+ feet and would go to 4+ if I had the room... but the blooms are lovely and I can't find a smaller bright white anywhere so I'll keep this one. Images below.

My other existing Lily, the "yellow pigmy" is less successful. After watching it grow and looking at other similarly named lilies online, I'm pretty sure it is just a small variant of Mexicana. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but while Hermine and my lotus are keeping it at bay, it could probably spread to 3+ feet on its own and while the pads are nice (thinner and more like a tropical than Hermine's) that seems to be all I'm getting. I'm wondering if I just don't get it enough sun. One of the reasons I became convinced that it is related to Mexicana is the way it is creating runners all across the top of the pot. Big white roots come up and over the pea gravel, then form new plant-lets after traveling a few inches. I already have 2 new little plants making quarter sized leaves and I can see at least 2 more of these runners racing across the top of the pot.

I'm thinking of replacing the pigmy with Helvola and maybe seeing if I can squeeze in a Lilacea or a Joanne Pring by taking out an umbrella plant someone gave me that I'm not really enamored with. I really wish I had a bigger pond but there is just no room.

 

[milhousebarks]

And another update on my quest for small lilies for my small pond... The pygmy yellow is now blooming and based on shape I think it is looking more and more likely that it is a small form of Mexicana. Here is one flower and another bud behind it with another 2 down near the crown coming along. It is held almost 6 inches over the water. The pads are 6 inches.

I've decided that lack of sun (probably closer to 4 hours of sun in the morning, which is less than I first throught) is making the pads of these supposedly small plants much larger. Hermine is now putting out leaves 8 inches in diameter! Between the 2 lilies and the sprawling lotus plus frogbit filling in the gaps there is hardly any open water at all, which is definitely not what I want in the long run. I used a combination of clay with some composted manure and the pots could be smaller, so repotting may help shrink them some next year.

But in search of smaller plants to possibly replace them with next year, I bought a number of dwarfs from ebay based on Andy's notes. I now have a Tetragona, Helvola, Lilacea and Graziella going in a small tote. They are recovering from the USPS travels and being separated, etc. They all seem like they'll survive, but are being munched by somthing. I doubt I'll see blooms from these this year, but we'll see. Right now they are so darn cute!

I also have a tropical Dauben going in a tub, which looked a bit wonky when the water quality dropped (It was still clear but even the frogbit was yellowing), but is now recovering nicely and I see 4 buds coming up! That looks like it would be about a 3 foot spread in my pond and the pads are coming up on 6 inches long each.

Quick question for Andy or anyone else who might know. I'm considering adding a joanne pring or andreana to my experimental group. How do they compare in size and spread to the Lilacea? Based on leave size it looks like the Lilacea will be a bit larger than the other 3 I have so I'm looking for something pink/red that I might add. Then again, I read one place that Joanne Pring, while having small flowers/pads, spreads more than Lilacea. It would be great if I could just go somewhere and see all these side by side as adults, but I know that isn't really an option so I really appreciate the advice and insight of anyone who has grown them.