2012 New Waterlily Competition
Congratulations to all winners of the New Waterlily Competition. The Denver Botanic Gardens in Denver, Colorado, hosted this year’s IWGS New Waterlily Competition, which drew 24 entries from hybridizers around the world. These entries were divided into the following categories: Hardy, Day-blooming Tropical, and Intersubgeneric.
Photos were taken of each entry’s first, second-, and third-day blooms, along with each second-day bloom with a ruler and each plant with a yardstick. Grower’s notes were maintained throughout the season to record growth characteristics which were not clearly visible in the photos, such as duration of bloom, average height of blooms above the water’s surface, rate of growth, and any issues or abnormalities. After taking the photos and grower’s notes under careful consideration, an international panel of judges provided scores for each new hybrid in the following
categories: Flower, Foliage, General Impression, and Unique Characteristics. The judges’ scores were then combined and the hybrid receiving the highest number of points in each entry category was awarded first place for that category. The entry receiving the highest overall number of points was named the Best New Waterlily of 2012 and the Second Best New Waterlily of 2012 went to the entry with the second highest number of points overall.
THE 2012 JUDGES
- James Allison of Aquapic Solutions
- Craig Presnell of Luster Aquatic Nurseries
- Tim Jennings of Longwood Botanical Gardens
- Jim Purcell of Oregon Aquatics
- Kelly Billing of Maryland Aquatic Nurseries
- Stu Schuck of Charleston Aquatic Nurseries
- Deb Spencer of Water’s Edge
- Dave Brigante of Hughes Water Gardens
- Danny Benjamin of Hazorea Aquatics.
THE WINNERS
The votes have been counted and the results for the 2012 IWGS New Waterlily Competition winners are listed below:
2012 BEST OVERALL NEW WATERLILY
Nymphaea ‘Tropic Punch’
by Florida Aquatic Nurseries (USA)
2012 IWGS BEST NEW HARDY WATERLILY
1st Place
Nymphaea ‘Manee Red’
by Pairat Songpanich, (Thailand)
2nd Place
Nymphaea ‘Pink Pom Pom’
by Tony Moore (USA)
2012 IWGS BEST NEW INTERSUBGENERIC (ISG) WATERLILY
1st Place
Nymphaea ‘Kiss The Sky’
by Mike Giles (USA)
2nd Place
Nymphaea ‘Deep Purple’
by Florida Aquatic Nurseries (USA)
2012 IWGS BEST NEW TROPICAL WATERLILY
1st Place
Nymphaea ‘Tropic Punch’
by Florida Aquatic Nurseries (USA)
2nd Place
Nymphaea ‘Sand Pearl’
by Lonestar Aquatic Nursery (USA)
Once again this year, the public was also invited to vote for their own favorite new waterlily hybrids in the “People’s Choice Awards.” Visitors to Denver Botanic Gardens were invited to cast their votes via text message, while those unable to visit DBG to see the entries in person were able to vote for their favorites on the IWGS website. Over 400 votes were cast.