2025 Symposium New York - International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society

Presentations

The following were presented on the Education Day:

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/Wave-Hill-8-15.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2025-A-Lotus-Revolution-IWGS-August-2025.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/2025.08.15_Yuchu_Chen_Presentation2.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/EuryaleFeroxFoxnuts_KrishnanSubramaniam.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/The-Experience-Economy-2.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/Podcast-Guests.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/Untermyer-aquatic-Presentation-.pdf

https://iwgs.org/wp-content/uploads/SYMPOSIUM-2025-SHELDON.pdf

Peter Zale's lecture to the IWGS group at the post-symposium in Longwood Gardens:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6NPZIjjuAs

SILVER SPONSORS

MAIN SYMPOSIUM

Tuesday, August 12th

Check-In opens at our host hotel (see Hotel section below)
Registration takes place in the foyer of our host hotel
Opening Reception in the hotel, with canapés provided for attendees

A hospitality room in the hotel will be set aside this evening until midnight, for attendees to meet up. Drinks and snacks will be provided.

Wednesday, August 13 - Tour Day

Breakfast is provided in our rate for hotel residents.

Today we visit two of the New York city's premier botanic gardens, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the New York Botanical Garden. Both include plenty of interest for water gardeners, with both outdoor water gardens and indoor tropical ponds.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is an urban botanic garden. Situated on 52 acres in the heart of Brooklyn and open year-round, the Garden is home to over 10,000 kinds of plants and more than 30 specialty gardens. Staff at Brooklyn have kindly agreed to give us introductory tours and answer questions. A box lunch will be provided on the bus as we journey to New York Botanic Garden (NYBG). Both gardens have cafes if you require additional refreshments, or want a snack before our return trip.

NYBG’s 250 acres are home to renowned exhibitions, immersive botanical experiences, art and music, and events. They are stewards of globally significant research collections, from the LuEsther T. Mertz Library collection to the plant and fungal specimens in the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, the largest such collection in the Western Hemisphere.

We arrive back at our host hotel where dinner is on your own. A list of potential restaurants will be provided in the Q&A section below. Our hospitality room in the hotel will be open until midnight.

Brooklyn_Botanic_Garden_New_York_May_2015_panorama_2

Thursday, August 14 - Tour Day

Breakfast is provided in our rate for hotel residents.

We head to Pennsylvania today, with a visit to the Aquascapes Unlimited, a wholesale plant nursery, Fitz's Ponds and Waterford Gardens (now FFP Saddle River).

Aquascapes Unlimited Inc. is a wholesale aquatic nursery located on 20 acres in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that produces native wetland and ornamental aquatic species, as well as carnivorous and custom hybrid pitcher plants. It has a 20-acre site which is a certified National Wildlife Fund habitat containing vernal pools, a restored woodlot, 10 acres of wet woodlands & open meadows. A bar-b-q lunch and refreshments will be provided at Aquascapes Unlimited.

From there. we will journey to Fitz's ponds where we will visit their state of the art greenhouses which are dedicated to housing their imported Japanese Koi and aquatic plants. Their koi at the farm are available for purchase for both wholesale and retail customers.

Our next stop will be the site of the iconic Waterford Gardens, which was recently purchased by Fitz's Fish Ponds (and is now FFP Saddle River) and who are preserving and re-vitalizing this location. Waterford Gardens was originally established as the first commercial water lily farm in the United States by William Tricker in 1895. Tricker’s groundbreaking contributions included hybridizing water lilies, introducing exotic varieties, and publishing some of the earliest water gardening catalogs, such as The Standard Guide to Water Gardening.

From there, we will be returning to the hotel where you will have dinner on your own or joining friends and acquaintances in our hospitality room in the hotel which is open until midnight.

Friday, August 15 – Education Day at Wave Hill Botanic Garden

(One Day Education Day Registration available in link below).

Breakfast is provided in our rate for hotel residents .

You will be bused to Wave Hill Botanic Garden at 8 AM for a full day of talks during this education day. Lunch and the evening reception and dinner will be provided there.

Those with Silent Auction items should bring them to the conference room shortly before the conference opens.

Education Day Speakers:

Prof. Dr. André Leu, International Director, Regeneration International speaking on "Hybridizing and Collecting Australian Waterlily Species"

This presentation focuses on hybridizing Australian waterlily species to develop new cultivars suitable for pond culture

Larry Lederman, NYBG Board Advisor, speaking on "Photography in the Water Garden".
Who hasn’t wanted to learn more tips on photographing water in the garden?

Rob Sheldon, owner of Latour-Marliac Nursery, France, speaking on "Waterlily Intellectual Property"

Rob will talk about his ongoing research into intellectual property protection and market creation in the waterlily business.

Krishnan Subramaniam, IWGS Director, speaking about "Euryale Ferox Waterlily – Fox nuts (Makhana or Lilypop)"

Fox nuts or popularly called Mahana is the popped seeds of the waterlily Euryale ferox. Lets explore and enjoy this new health food.

Larry Nau co-owner of Bergen Water Gardens, speaking on "A Lotus Revolution"

Join Larry as he traces the 21st century Lotus Revolution.

Mario Irigoyen, horticulturist at Untermeyer Gardens, NY speaking on "Creating a Garden With Aquatics at Untermeyer"

Mario will present a brief overview of the ongoing restoration of Untermeyer gardens and a special focus on water and aquatic plants throughout the garden.

Tim Jennings from Longwood Gardens presenting "The Experience Economy: "when goods and services are no longer enough".

Join us as we explore some of the practical techniques we use to curate meaningful and memorable experiences for our garden guests.

Mr. Yuchu Chen, Secretary-General of the Aquatic Flowers Branch of the Chinese Horticultural Society, China.

Mr Chen will present on Progress of research and industry in Chinese lotus and waterlily

Kathy Jentz, host and producer of the award-winning GardenDC Podcast presents "Listen Up! Garden Podcasts are in Your Customers' Ears".

Garden Podcasts are wired directly into your customers' brains. You need to get booked on them to reach this growing audience and spread plant knowledge.

We will return to our hotel for the hospitality room will be open for final visits and farewells (for those not planning on taking in the post symposium day.)

Saturday, August 16th

Breakfast is provided in our rate for hotel residents.

Bid farewell to those departing on their return journeys or those joining the post-symposium. Room checkout for those departing today is 12.00 noon.

OPTIONAL PRE-SYMPOSIUM DAY

Tuesday, August 12^th – Manhattan and Central Park Visit

You will be bussed to downtown Manhattan to visit Little Island, Tulip Garden, The Met and other places of interest. You will tour one of New York City’s newest and most innovative green spaces with spectacular views of the New York City Waterfront and skyline.

Following Little Island, you will experience the uniqueness and beauty of the High Line on Guided tour of its Gardens. The High Line was Built on top of a discontinued elevated train railway that has been re-imagined and re-purposed as a public green space.

The tour continues with a walk through the beautiful Central Park Conservancy Conservatory Garden, then you will enjoy a special Guided tour of the collections and exhibitions of rare and beautiful objects at the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art. Nearby Attractions include a short walk through the Shakespeare Garden in Central Park.

Lunch can be purchased at many locations, including at Indoor Mall during the tour.

At the end of the day, you will return to the hotel in time to join the evening reception for the main symposium.

For those staying the previous night in our host hotel, you will need to add the night of the August 11th to your hotel booking.

Longwood-Reimagined_Waterlily-Court_rendering

OPTIONAL POST-SYMPOSIUM DAY

August 16th - Visit to Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, PA

After more than three years in the making, Longwood Reimagined opened November 22, 2024. Just imagine amazing new gardens, new glasshouses, new landscapes, and new dining all ready to be discovered. Explore brand new spaces years in the making—including the sprawling new West Conservatory and its islands of plants, the beloved Cascade Garden in a new custom glasshouse, and imaginative new outdoor landscapes.

Breakfast is provided in our rate for hotel residents.
Bid farewell to those departing on their return journeys elsewhere.
8:00 am: Meet in the foyer area to load the coach. If you are heading on elsewhere at the end of the day (rather than returning to New York City, you will need to load your luggage onto the coach as well and ensure that your checkout is complete.
Bus will depart for Longwood Gardens, PA where we will explore the gardens, join a special lecture on waterlily conservation and our behind-the-scenes tour at the Gardens.
Lunch passes will be provided.
6:00 pm: Bus will return to New York if you are departing from either of the New York city airports.