2004 Waterlily Competition Winners

2004 IWGS New Waterlily Competition

Andreas Protopapas (Niki, second best new hardy) is an Electronic Engineer by trade and enjoys hardy waterlily hybridization as a hobby. His vision was to produce a hardy blue waterlily but discovered that it was difficult to find fertile waterlily plants in Cyprus. Currently Andreas grows around 120 hardy Nymphaea plants and is continuously trying to discover the secrets of hybridization. He created several hybrids including ‘Thalia’, ‘Maria’, ‘Cypriana’, ‘Niki’, ‘Aphrodite’ and ‘Efestus’. Andreas said, “Not being a Water Garden Center has prevented these hybrids from being made available to the public but I hope this will change in the new season and that the plants will be released to the USA and other countries soon.”

N.Nopchai Chansilpa (Ubol, best new hardy), or Dr. Nor as he is known to his friends, was born in Bangkok and now lives in Cholburi in the eastern part of Thailand. He is a plant pathologist and collects some native orchids and grows waterlilies as a hobby. He is also the vice-chairman of the Thailand Waterlily Lovers’ Club. Dr. Nor said, “When I was informed by the IWGS that my lily received the award ‘Best New Hardy Waterlily 2004’ the unexplainable emotion happened to me. It was really wonderful. I did not waste my time for about 40 years with waterlilies.” Dr. Nor hopes that his win will encourage other friends in Thailand to enter their hybrids.

Nymphaea ‘Foxfire’ was hybridized by J. Craig Presnell (Foxfire, best new waterlily & best new tropical; Avalanche, second best new tropical) of Luster Aquatic Nursery in Zolfo Springs, FL. It was the result of a cross between an unnamed seedling and N. ampla. This was not Craig’s first effort at hybridizing. He started playing with crosses probably about 1998 and entered his first IWGS competition in 2001 when the symposium was at Nashville. Craig said, “I have to admit that I like Foxfire quite a bit in that it is somewhat of a different look in a tropical lily flower, although it wasn’t what I was hoping for…I’m after a pink ‘Midnight’. I guess at this point that would be my goal….a pink ‘Midnight’.”

2004 New Waterlily Competition Winners

Best New Waterlily

Nymphaea ‘Foxfire’
by Craig Presnell

2004 IWGS Best New Hardy Waterlily

 

 

2004 IWGS Best New Tropical Waterlily