Nymphaea ‘Purple Zebra’
Photos by Kathy Cahill
New Waterlilies
Leading Lilies 2021 New Waterlily Competition Results
by Suzanne Boom, IWGS
I
n 2021, the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society (IWGS) once again held its New Waterlily Competition at Naples Botanical Garden in Naples, Florida. This year, we expanded our maximum number of entries from 25 to 30, allowing more hybridizers from around the world the opportunity to submit their best new
waterlilies for evaluation. The IWGS has held this competition almost every year since 1997 to provide hybridizers an avenue to showcase their creations and innovations while offering them essential feedback (e.g., what traits are desirable to growers and enthusiasts) following evaluation by an expert panel of international judges. We received entries in each of the following five categories: Hardy, Tropical Day-Bloomer, Tropical Night-Bloomer, Hardy Intersubgeneric and Tropical
Nymphaea ‘Painted Pom Pom'
Intersubgeneric. A total of 26 beautiful waterlilies were successfully grown out by Kathy Cahill, the aquatics areas manager at Naples Botanical Garden. They were all evaluated by our panel of judges on the quality of the flowers and foliage, as well as the general impression and uniqueness of the plant. The evaluations were made based on growers’ notes and photos compiled by Cahill over a 10-week observation period. Among the judges were professional waterlily growers from botanic gardens Nymphaea ‘Sweet Angel'
Nymphaea 'Gabriel's Delight'
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