162 WALL AND WATER GARDENS 



the credit of having perceived the adaptability of the 

 various hardy species of Water-Lily for purposes of 

 hybridisation, and for the yielding of a large variety of 

 beautiful forms. It is to the labours of this gentle- 

 man that we owe the greater number of the beautiful 

 flowers that we can now have in our ponds and 

 tanks. 



Other growers have followed M. Marliac's example, 

 and now there are many who are working on the 

 . same lines ; so that, though we have already a large 

 number of beautiful hybrid Water-Lilies, there is no 

 doubt that we have by no means come to the end of 

 their development, though it seems difficult to believe 

 that anything handsomer than Nymphcea marliacea 

 albida and the beautiful pale yellow N. m. Chromatella 

 can possibly be produced. Already in the Laydekeri 

 group there are rose and red and purplish flowers ; 

 also the fine reds developed by Mr. Frcebel of Zurich, 

 while M. Marliac promises some of blue colouring, 

 probably the progeny of the blue N. stellata of Upper 

 Egypt and the blue Water-Lily of Zanzibar. The 

 difficulty of obtaining the blue colouring in the hardy 

 plant is that these blues are natives of tropical regions, 

 but there seems good reason to suppose that this will 

 be got over, for there are also blue Nymphaeas from 

 the Cape and from Australia which will no doubt also 

 play their part in the production of new garden 

 kinds. 



For planting Water-Lilies in ponds a depth of two 

 or three feet is in many cases enough, though some 



