IRISH GARDENING 



VOLUME VIII. 



No. 87 



Edited by C F. Ball 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL DEVOTED TO THE 



ADVANCEMENT OF HORTICULTURE AND 



ARBORICULTURE IN IRELAND 



MAY 



'9'3 



Hardy Water Lilies 



By Sib F. W. .Moore, M.A. 



LI* 

 NEW 



©OTA 



Most good gardeners keej) notebooks, and care- 

 fully consult these books during the progress of 

 the season, adding to or altering the matter 

 according as circumstances, or changing condi- 

 tions, require. The cai'eful keeping, and con- 

 stant consulting, of a notebook is not a sign of 

 ignorance of the principles or requirements of 

 our craft : on the contrary, it denotes a careful 

 and well ordinated mind, and a determination 

 not to omit attention at the proper moment to 

 details, great and small, on the careful observ- 

 ance of which much of the success of the coming- 

 season depends. Reference to notes of work to 

 be done at this season are unfortunately foi our 

 peace of mind very numerous, and many of us 

 have to give anxious thought as to how to " get 

 it all in." One note stands underlined in red, 

 " clean ponds," " attend to and divide hardy 

 Water Lilies end of April," and a little further 

 on " plant new varieties first week in May." 

 The mere reading of above notes awakens in 

 the mind a summer scene, cool and peaceful, 

 refreshing and stimulating, for assuredly there is 

 no summer scene in the garden more beautiful 

 than that of a quiet sheet of water in a suitable 

 position, and with suitable surroundings, a blaze 

 with the chaste and beautiful flowers of the 

 modern hardy hybrids and varieties of Water 

 Lilies. Thirty years ago such a picture would 

 have been an impossibility, but such has been 

 the progress in the cultivation of Water Lilies, 

 and in the production of new and meritorious 

 varieties, that it is now within the reach of 

 every one at a very moderate cost, provided 

 always the water is available. The credit for 

 this advance is undoubtedly due to the late M. 

 Bory Latour Marliac, of Temple-sur-Lot. He 

 first seriously took tip breeding Nymphseas, and 

 his earlier productions, as well as some of the 

 later varieties sent out by him, still stand 

 unrivalled for general utility and beauty. 

 Others have followed in his footsteps, but so far 



I fearlessly affirm, no one has overtaken him, 

 although varieties of sterling merit have been 

 produced by his fellow-countryman, Lagrange, 

 and by Dreer in America. The first four 

 planted in the pond at Glasnevin were Nyinphsea 

 Marliacea Candida, N. M. rosea, N. M. carnea. 

 N. M. chromatella ; that was twenty-five years 

 ago. and the illustration shows in the fore- 

 ground these same plants as they are at the 

 present day. vigorous and floriferous, in the same 

 place they were originally planted in, and from 

 which they have never been moved. They are 

 well seen in the foreground of the illustration. 

 This is high testimony to the general value of 

 any plant from a gardener's point of view, and 

 1 can add to the testimony by stating that I 

 still invariably recommend these four as amongst 

 the very best varieties for planting in large 

 sheets of water over two feet in depth, adding 

 to them N. colossea, and N. Gladstoniana to 

 make half a dozen. 



Several papers have appeared from authors of 

 repute, treating of these plants, and giving 

 cultural details ; also naturally extolling their 

 merits, but hiding their shortcomings, for, 

 unfortunately, such they have. The most 

 serious probably is that on bright days the 

 flowers close between three and four in the 

 afternoon, and remain closed until the following 

 day, thus hiding most of their beauty at a time 

 of day when busy people only get an opportunity 

 of enjoying their gardens. Sun and brightness 

 seem essential for the highest quality and greatest 

 beauty of all varieties of hardy Nymphaea, hence 

 it is quite useless planting them in dark or 

 shaded ponds where the sun's rays cannot get 

 free access to them. Rank foliage, a few poor 

 flowers there will be for a period, and the plants 

 will gradually die out. An interesting fact is. 

 that if the flowers open well in the forenoon, 

 and if the day then becomes wet and gloomy, 

 although the rain ma}' cease, the flowers remain 



