20 



The Weekly Florists^ Review* 



Mat 23, 1912. 



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WATER LILIES: <? 



BY AN EXPERT 



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AQUATIC PLANTS. 



Their Varied Usefulness. 



I have been asked to read a paper on 

 aquatic plants, or water lilies in partic- 

 ular. This topic may appear unseason- 

 able or unreasonable at this time, as the 

 flowers are out of season, and I have 

 no pictures to exhibit with lantern 

 slides. On the face of it, it may seem 

 to you to be an uninviting subject, but 

 I hope I may say a few words in favor 

 of these plants that will interest you. 

 Florists, gardeners, those who own sub- 

 urban homes and the mass of humanity 

 love the country, the green fields, hills 

 and valleys, woods and plains and the 

 landscape in general, with all its varied 

 beauties in nature as they appear to 

 us in the spring of the year, with its 

 resurrection of life, its unfolding leaf- 

 age, buds and flowers, pointing to sum- 

 mer's fullness and fruition and au- 

 tumn's gathering in. 



The landscape through all the 

 changing seasons is a panorama of 

 beauty and richness of color, the handi- 

 work of the great Architect of the uni- 

 verse, created for our adoration, our 

 enjoyment, our life and health. As we 

 are all sons of our father, Adam, the 

 first gardener, we naturally take to 

 his profession, and we think of the old 

 homestead, the old-fashioned flowers, 

 the fruit, the trees, the landscape, and 

 one thing which is more prominent 

 than any other in the landscape, which 

 is most picturesque, and which no artist 

 omits on the canvas, is the winding 

 stream, that piece of water. Yes, in 

 that first garden we read of rivers of 

 water and something of the plants 

 and trees planted by their side, and 

 down through the ages to this twen- 

 tieth century those fortunate enough to 

 possess a large share of the world's 

 goods have also had their beautiful gar- 

 dens, and where there were gardens 

 there were rivers and streams and wa- 

 ter courses, and with these naturally 

 were aquatic plants. 



As Found in North America. 



See how nature has distributed 

 aquatic plants on this great continent 

 of ours. You take your machine and 

 tour through the great mid-Atlantic and 

 other states; you pass by numerous 

 lakes and ponds and sluggish streams. 

 On the surface of some you espy the lily 

 pads and the opening lilies of purity, 

 kissed by the dew of heaven as they 

 float on the crystal waters. Here you 

 find one gem, there another, each emit- 

 ting a rich, delicate perfume, inviting, 

 enticing, entrapping a host i f winged, 

 gay insects. 



We have ten or a dozen species and 

 varieties of water lilies in the United 

 States, and of aquatic plants there is 

 no end, but allow me to mention the 

 cat-tail, or Typha latifolia, together 



A paper by William Trlcker, of Arlington, 

 N. J., read at a recent meeting of the Morris 

 County Gardeners' and Florists' Club, at Madison, 



N. J. 



with the sedges, the hibiscus with its 

 mammoth flowers, the gorgeous cardinal 

 flower and its blue companion, the many 

 arrow heads, the caltha, thalictrum, 

 iris, etc., far too many to mention, but 

 everywhere you turn the moist places 

 are resplendent with verdure and 

 beauty. 



In Europe and Asia. 



Turn to Europe and there you will 

 find her ponds, pools and lakes no 

 less beautiful, yet adorned with other 

 gems, mostly white, reflecting their 

 pure flowers on the placid surface as in 

 a mirror. We journey and we visit 

 the cool lakes of Sweden and Switzer- 

 land. There we find another tenant of 

 the cool, crystal lakes, modest and re- 

 treating and scarcely seen or heard of 

 away from its native haunts. 



We cross over to Siberia and Japan 

 and there we find a miniature creation 

 of a water lily, the smallest known. 

 Alongside of this we have the gigantic 

 lotus wUh its peltate leaves, six, eight 

 or more ifeet in circumference, with 

 monstrous flowers twenty-four or more 

 inches in circumference, standing four, 

 five or six feet above the surface of 

 the water. These were held in such 

 esteem that they were considered 

 worthy to be carved over the chapiters 

 of the pillars of King Solomon's tem- 

 ple. 



I!gypt, India and South America. 



Let us pass over to ancient Egypt, 

 where the Egyptian lotus was preem- 

 inent, but is now extinct, and see there 

 the ancient bullrush, the papyrus, but 

 what of the nymphaeas, the water lilies 

 of Africa from north to south, from 

 east to west and the isle of Zanzibar? 

 Nowhere else in the world is there 

 found such a wealth of flowers; here 

 only are found the blue species, to- 

 gether with a white and yellow, not yet 

 in commerce. 



Let us pass on to the great continent 

 of India. Here, under a tropical sun 

 and burning heat that should wither 

 its flowers, nature has provided that 

 the water lilies should unfold their 

 splendor in the cool of the evening, 

 and as blue is no night color or ser- 

 viceable under artificial light, the water 

 lilies of India are red and white. 



There are still others in the tropics 

 of South America, and on the Amazon 

 tributaries we arrive at the climax of 

 all aquatic plants, the Victoria Eegia. 

 Farther down, on the tributaries of the 

 Para river, is found the Victoria Cruzi- 

 ana, introduced into cultivation by the 

 speaker and now grown more largely 

 than the Victoria Regia, as it yields 

 readily to cultivation under similar con- 



ditions to those of our tender nymphaeas 

 and can be grown without artificial heat 

 in our own state and elsewhere, save 

 north of New York, although it has been 

 grown with excellent results in Hart- 

 ford, Conja., in Elizabeth park, by a 

 man who|» name is "Wirth" mention- 

 ing- 



Ab Commercial Flowers. 



Gentleflpen, I have alluded to a class 

 of wild flpwers, largely distributed, that 

 have attracted the attention of the hu- 

 man race for thousands of years. They 

 are mostly exotic; they have been col- 

 lected from the four quarters of the 

 globe; they have been brought together 

 as one family, and the botanist, hybrid- 

 ist and cultivator have developed these 

 flowers with as great and astonishing 

 results as in any one class of flowers, 

 with the final result that today the 

 lilies are not known in their native 

 homes. They do not belong there; if 

 they belong anywhere it is in the New 

 World, where they are recognized and 

 prized for their great worth and where 

 they may be honestly styled "florists' 

 flowers. ' ' We have an increasing de- 

 mand every year for these flowers for 

 special occasions at summer resorts, 

 especially the night bloomers. They are 

 not only well adapted for such purposes, 

 but they are equally adapted for natural 

 and artificial ponds, etc., as the flowers 

 remain open until near noon and many 

 people do not know that they belong to 

 a class by themselves, as they are open 

 with the others in the early morning. 



Their Various Uses. 



Florists are using them as a window 

 display in summer, where no other flow- 

 ers are so attractive and specially suited 

 for the occasion. But let us take them 

 as decorative plants, adapted, as they 

 are, for the cottage gardens or the more 

 pretentious gardens of the wealthy, as 

 well as for public parks. There is an 

 immense field to draw from, and varie- 

 ties in miniature and gigantic propor- 

 tions to suit every case and condition. 



For the small garden we have the 

 pygmsea, white, pink, yellow and blue, 

 with the nelumbiums also adapted for 

 such culture. As the area increases and 

 the facility for culture, there are numer- 

 ous varieties adapted for the Italian 

 garden, the semi-wild or natural garden, 

 ponds and lakes, both artificial and nat- 

 ural. For several years those in charge 

 of our public parks have made an effort 

 to instruct the public; it is more or less 

 of a success, and it is here the people 

 have been enthused with the desire to 

 have their own water garden and today 

 many are inquiring how they may grow 

 these beautiful flowers, when to plant 

 and numerous other questions. 



Their Culture. 



As I said before, we have water lilies 

 from all sections of the globe and their 



