Perry Slocum, 1913-2004
Perry Slocum, award-winning photographer and founder of Slocum Water Gardens in Binghamton, New York, later moved to Winter Haven, Florida, USA, received the first U.S. Plant Patent (No. 666) issued for a hardy waterlily, Nymphaea ‘Pearl of the Pool,’ in 1946. Forty years later he received the first U.S. patent for lotuses, Nelumbo ‘Charles Thomas,’ N. ‘Maggie Belle Slocum’ and N. ‘Angel Wings.’
Perry served on the IWGS Board of Directors for 10 years, and as Vice President (1987-88) and President (1989). He was the first living individual to receive the Hall of Fame award. Perry authored Garden Pools and Fountains and co-authored Water Gardening, Waterlilies, and Lotuses.
Philip Swindells, 1945-2007
In the UK, Philip was best known as host of BBC gardening programs on radio and TV. His formal gardening training began at the University of Cambridge Botanical Garden, and he later became Curator of the Royal Botanic Garden, Harlow Carr in northern England. Later he established an international horticultural consultation business with special focus on developing royal gardens in the Middle East.
Philip received fellowships such as the prestigious Mary Helliar Scholarship (International Plant Propagators' Society) to study in-vitro aquatic plant reproduction in Czechoslovakia, and others. One of Philip's outstanding accomplishments was to persuade a publisher to make a facsimile printing of the rare 1905 Henry S. Conard monograph The Waterlilies, considered by many to be the foundation reference for the study of the Genus Nymphaea.
Dr. Kirk Strawn, 1992-2008
Dr. Robert “Kirk” Strawn of DeLand, Florida, USA, earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Florida and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Texas. Forty years later, after retiring from his brilliant academic career, he attained prominence in the international waterlily community for his pioneering hybridization work.
As a Founding Member of the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society, he served on its board and was elected as its second president in 1991. His wholesale nursery, Strawn Water Gardens, shipped tens of thousands of waterlily plants around the world. With an uncanny ability and a fascination for tackling research questions, he took on the task of hybridizing hardy waterlilies. In 1981, he produced his first unique water lily variety, Nymphaea ‘Charlene Strawn,’ named after his wife. Today, over 50 varieties of his breathtakingly vibrant waterlilies grow around the world.
Greg Spreichert, 1962-2010
Greg earned his degree in horticulture from Purdue University, focusing on aquatic plants and water gardening. In 1989, with wife Sue, he opened Crystal Palace Perennials in St. John, Indiana, USA. Crystal Palace listed over 400 varieties of marginal plants, a display pond with over 300 waterlily varieties, and advertised the largest selection of aquatic plants in North America. In 1996, Greg, along with four other water gardening enthusiasts, started Water Gardening Magazine. Greg co-authored several water gardening books, most notably the Encyclopedia of Water Garden Plants, with wife, Sue.
Greg served on the IWGS Board of Directors from 1997 to 2001, leading the Trials and Collections Committee for several years. Later, Greg became an innovative director of Hilltop Garden and Nature Center, a program of Indiana University in Bloomington. Greg introduced over 300 new hardy and tropical aquatic marginals and over 100 new native water plants to the water gardening industry.
Hildreth Morton, 1917-2007
Hildreth Morton of Davidsonville, Maryland, USA personified industry, thrift, intelligence and hard work. While husband Jim was hard at work establishing his legal practice, Hildreth worked their tobacco farm to pay for her first greenhouse. The output of that first greenhouse provided the funds to purchase several more greenhouses. Hildreth initially specialized in herbs, but then fell in love with waterlilies, and added aquatic plants as a specialty to her business.
Most noteworthy, Hildreth was a Founding Member of the IWGS and served the Society in various roles throughout the years. Her annual garden festivals were highly popular and well-attended, and her legacy continues through Bittersweet Hill Nurseries (include link to http://www.bittersweethillnurseries.com/).
James Alan Lawrie, 1933-2010
Jim graduated from Newark College of Engineering (now the New Jersey Institute of Technology) with a degree in chemical engineering, and went on to meet noted landscape architect John Meeks during the1986 IWGS Symposium in St Louis, Missouri, USA. John had recently purchased Tricker’s historic Saddle River, New Jersey, USA establishment and needed a capable, knowledgeable general manager to oversee the operation. Jim accepted John’s offer and proved invaluable in assisting gardeners to achieve a truly balanced water feature, especially when it came to the growing interest of having koi in water features.
Jim soon became an active member of the IWGS Board of Directors and served as President. In recognition of his international work furthering the cause of water gardening, Germany’s Gesellschaft der Wassergarten Freunde presented Jim with their Silber Silver Award at its 1991 annual symposium in Kassel. Jim taught water gardening classes at Rutgers and various botanic gardens, and he edited several books on the subject.
Fred McCorkle, 1949-2010
Fred was the IWGS Journal editor, along with various pond club newsletters. Fred also created and edited another publication to support the brand new All Florida Koi & Pond Show (AFKAPS), a cooperative effort hosted by all the pond and koi clubs in the state.
Fred McCorkle passed away at home on January 13, 2010 in North Port, Florida, USA. After brain tumor surgery in January 2009, Fred went through extensive treatment and was cancer-free for most of the year. Then in late fall the tumors returned and grew extremely quickly. Fred, being the master planner and realist, elected to go with hospice and spend his remaining time at home.
Dr. Surrey W. L. Jacobs
Dr. Surrey W. L. Jacobs, noted Australian botanist, was employed by the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney for 38 years, working extensively on grasses, weeds, and water plants. Surrey published numerous journal articles dealing with Australian grasses and various aquatic plant genera of Australia including, Aponogeton, Vallisneria, and Nymphaea. He co-authored "The Water Plants of New South Wales," "Waterplants in Australia," and the treatment of the Nymphaeaceae in the "Flora of Australia."
Surrey's extensive work on the waterlilies of Australia led to a greater understanding of a taxonomically difficult group. Surrey traveled throughout the tropics conducting field studies and subsequent taxonomic studies of the family Nymphaeaceae. When Surrey started working on the Nymphaea of Australia, five native species in three subgenera were known. Today, as the result of extensive studies over the past 17 years, 7 new species have been described. Shortly before his death, Surrey and Barre Hellquist completed a new manuscript naming five new genera of waterlilies in Australia, bringing the number of native waterlilies in Australia to 17.
John Punkey Foard III, 1935-2010
John Bevans “Punkey” Foard, III, was co-founder of Valley View Farms in suburban Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and was well-known for his water gardening business and for traveling the world to study water gardening. He served on the IWGS Board of Directors and contributed generously to the organization.
Punkey earned a bachelor’s degree in 1955 from Rutger University’s College of Agriculture. After retiring from Valley View Farms in 2005, Punkey began a newfound love of hot peppers, bringing new varieties to the area from Trinidad, where he enjoyed vacationing.
Don Byrne, 1936-2011
IWGS Hall of Fame recipient and Founding Member, Don Bryne founded Suwannee Laboratories in Lake City, Florida, USA, with wife, Shirley. Specializing in aquarium plants, the duo later expanded to aquatic plants for water gardening. For many years Don was President of the Florida and American Aquaculture Associations and led the opposition against the State of Florida regulatory agencies that wished to shut down the state’s aquatic plant industry.
In the mid 80s, Don and Shirley explored the Amazon and Rio Negro areas of Brazil for the Giant Victoria waterlily, Victoria amazonica. He enjoyed searching for new and unusual plant specimens, introducing several to the trade industry, including Luwigia sedioides, Phyllanthus fluitans, Nymphaea ‘Shirley Bryne,’ N. ‘Suwannee Mist,’ and others.
