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| Propagation, Culture, and Winter Care |
By Seed-Hybridization
Hardy water-lilies can be propagated by seed, but it is a slow, painstaking process, with not much assurance to the amateur hybridist of
enough new plants to pay him for his time and effort. The hardies, as a
group, are notoriously reluctant to set seed. However, working with
seeds is extremely interesting. So, to those water gardeners who play
the game for the game's sake, and not alone for the prize, here is the
procedure:
Make up your mind at the beginning whether you want to reproduce
plants like the parent species or variety form, or try for a new hybrid.
If you want true reproduction, you need only keep matching parent
plants to themselves, and protecting them from stray pollen. You can
help out with the pollination if you like, but most of the hardies that set
seed at all are self-seeding. If you want to try for a new hybrid, you will
combine-or try to combine-the colors and characteristics of two different species or varieties.
The Best Time. To propagate next summer's water-lilies by seed, we
begin, of course, with this summer's blooms. Save your experiment for
late summer, since flowers are more fertile and receptive then. Select
the pollen and the seed parents carefully, keeping in mind just what
colors and characteristics you want to combine, and making doubly sure
that the seed parent you have selected is a fertile one. Many water-lily
forms, especially among the varieties, are quite sterile.
Nymphaea odorata and practically all of its varieties-particularly
caroliniana, gigantea, minor, rosea, and Luciano-set enough seed to
make your experiment worthwhile. This is also true of the species types
of N. alba, Candida, flava, mexicana, pygmaea, and tetragona; and N.
tuberosa is a good bet in its species type and in the rosea and Richardsonii varieties. You may also have fair luck with N. Gladstoniana.
Once you have selected the two forms, you may want to conduct a
double experiment. Use one form as the seed parent in the first experiment, the other form as the pollen parent. In the second experiment,
reverse the roles of the two parents. The progeny should be the same in
all such cases of reciprocal crosses, but the double effort will give a better chance for success.
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