2008 Waterlily Competition Winners

2008 IWGS New Waterlily Competition

All of these new Nymphaea hybrids were grown out at The Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina, USA. The official judge‘s panel voted between August 15th-17th, 2008. All photos provided by photographers John K. Wyman [email protected] and Tamara L Kilbane.

This year we had 21 waterlily varieties submitted for consideration with 16 of those able to be considered in the voting (some did not grow out well, as happens each year). We would like to thank the following individuals and companies for competing:

The IWGS would like to recognize Sarah P. Duke Gardens and their enormous efforts for the 2008 New Waterlily Competition. Duke Gardens is a public non-profit botanical garden with no admission fees, which is supported by public donations. They are affiliated with Duke University and had over 300,000 visitors to their gardens in 2007. The visitors are presently enjoying a beautiful display of waterlilies in the 40,000 gallon Virtue Peace Pond. They grow the Longwood hybrid‘ Victoria, Euryale ferox, and about 30+ other varieties of waterlilies, as well as an array of marginal aquatics. They also maintain two other ponds that contain a broad range of waterlilies and marginal plants. Their staff includes qualified, experienced waterlily growers, including Tamara Kilbane. Tamara has seven years of experience working in the water gardening industry. She is also a freelance garden writer and photographer who has published articles promoting the New Waterlily Contest. John Wyman has been growing waterlilies for 14 years and works as a volunteer at Duke Gardens, where he started the waterlily program in 1997. He also works as a professional photographer. Both are qualified to grow the new hybrids for the IWGS, take quality photos, and support this IWGS effort. These professionals are also assisted by several Duke Gardens interns, the rest of the Duke Gardens staff, and several volunteers. They are all serious about making this competition a success every year. The IWGS gives their whole-hearted thanks to Sarah P. Duke Botanical Gardens and to their dedicated staff for making the IWGS 2008 Waterlily Competition a success.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens hosts a People‘s Choice portion of the New Waterlily Competition public contest on their website and at the Gardens. The public is invited to vote for their favorite plants and it is interesting to see how the public vote and the IWGS judges‘ vote differs or is similar. This year voting was identical except for the 2nd Place Tropical Waterlily.

2008 New Waterlily Competition Winners

Nymphaea ‘Ultra Violet’
by Florida Aquatic Nurseries & Florida Aquatic Nurseries

2008 IWGS New Tropical Waterlily

2008 IWGS New Hardy Waterlily

Peoples Choice Award