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| First Cousins of Water-Lilies |
The hard shells are punctured by filing or cutting and then planted in January or February, in shallow pans of fine,
unfertilized soil with 3 to 4 inches of water. At this stage they are kept
at 80 to 85 degrees and exposed to full sunlight.
The more active seeds begin to germinate in two to three weeks. As
soon as seedlings form the second tiny leaves, they are moved to submerged 3-inch pots filled with a mixture of two-thirds screened soil and
one-third rotted cow manure. As plants grow, they are moved to larger
and larger pots, finally reaching 10-inch sizes when they are ready to set
outdoors in the pool.
Victorias have to have a basin at least 30 feet across and 3 feet deep
in the center. They must have rich, nourishing food and plenty of it
to produce their immense leaves and blooms. Therefore planting receptacles must have minimum dimensions of 12 by 12 feet and a depth of
11/2 feet, and be filled with the same mixture of heavy loam and fertilizer
required by the hardy and tropical water-lilies. (See Chapter 8.) Victorias are set into the soil, much as tropicals are, and buried up to their
giowing points. Planted outdoors in full sun as soon as the season has
become consistently hot, Victorias begin producing foliage quickly, but
the blooms usually do not develop until well into August.
Only three forms are in cultivation, and these are comparatively
rarely grown.
Species and Varieties
Victoria regia is, of course, the most widely known species of the
genus with flower and leaf of the classic form we have just discussed.
A native of the tropics, V. regia does poorly north of the Mason-Dixon
Line.
V. Cruziana-Somewhat hardier South American form from Para-
guay. It requires a little less heat than V. regia and therefore can be
planted somewhat farther north. Flowers are similar but appear earlier,
and the foliage is lighter green.
V. Randii-Brazilian form of similar size and shape, has foliage of a
reddish cast and marked by prominent red veins. White flowers pass
to a deep crimson in their two or three nights of blooming.
Genus Nelumbo-the Lotus
The lotus is one of the oldest flowering plants in the world and has
been admired-even revered-through the ages for its awe-inspiring
beauty. The lotus has been featured in man's first crude drawings, and
the Egyptians, it is said, made it the "parent of ornamentation." Certainly the lotus was a basic motif in early Assyrian and Persian art.
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