Join us the Denver Botanic Gardens' Spring Plant Sale
By: Brenda Parsons-Hier
Spring is hopefully here and our minds are turning to our water features. Are you thinking of buying some new aquatic plants? The good news is Denver Botanic Gardens is having their Spring Plant Sale in person this year! The dates are May 5th, 6th, & 7th. As usual the Aquatics Booth will have a diverse and interesting selection of plants. The Aquatics Booth will be located near the Steppe Garden. Here is a site map for the Spring Plant Sale: https://www.botanicgardens.org/sites/default/files/file/2022-04/2022-SpringPlantSale-SiteMap_1.pdf
Admission is free but reservations are required and will be available starting April 7th for members beginning at 10:00 am and April 11th for the general public at 10:00 am. Reservations are subject to availability; membership does not guarantee a reservation for the Sale. Tickets are obtained through the Denver Botanic Gardens' website: https://catalog.botanicgardens.org/DateSelection.aspx?item=4586
Here is an online catalog of individual species and cultivars available for purchase: https://www.botanicgardens.org/sites/default/files/file/2022-04/2022-SpringPlantSale-ShoppingGuide_1.pdf. Aquatics and several other terrestrial plant divisions like Rock Gardens, Annuals, Perennials, Roses, Plant Select, Fruits and Berries, Vegetables, and Summer Bulbs will be represented. For more information, visit the DBG website at https://www.botanicgardens.org/events/special-events/spring-plant-sale
We never know what the weather will be during the sale, but we do know the public is enjoyable to work with and DBG treats us well with snacks and drinks. So come join us to buy plants. If you have questions, please contact me.
Brenda Parsons-Hier
moose.4bph@q.com
303-278-2106
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May 19, 2022 Plant Swap!!
By: Teresa Burkert
It's Plant Swap Time!! May 19, 2022
For water gardeners who are members of the Colorado Water Garden Society, there are two fabulous occasions for acquiring new plants this year. The first is the MEMBERS' PLANTS SWAP AND POTLUCK which will be held on May 19th. The second is the CWGS PLANT SALE, June 5th at Hudson Gardens. More
information on the Sale will be noted in future newsletters. Don't forget that members get first pick of Sale plants by arriving in the opening hour!
The Plant Swap allows gardeners to exchange excess plants they have for new plants to pop into ponds or containers. Don't have something to share? Come join us! You are sure to go home with a new plant friend anyway.
This year the Swap will be at the home of:
Ken and Teresa Burkert
9862 Alamo Drive
Northglenn, CO 80260
Contact Teresa at terburkert85@gmail.com or leave a message at 720-219-6481
Time: 5:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Ken has grown over 25 different hardy water lilies in pots! At 5:30 pm he will give a planting demonstration and will share tips and tricks he has learned over the years, including how to overwinter tubers.
The Potluck is scheduled for 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Please bring a dish to share and enjoy chatting with other gardeners. CWGS will provide water and soda. Please also bring a chair.
The BIG EVENT will occur after the Potluck at 7:00 pm with everyone in a circle. Plant donors will individually show their plants and give a short talk mentioning how and where the plant does best, color, size, and care tips. Plant types have included both hardy and tropical water lilies, marginals, bog plants, and even house plant and perennial cuttings. When the show and tell is complete, the fun begins with everyone rushing to snag the plants they want. The rule is Bring One, Take One. In reality, there are always more plants brought than plants taken. If you do not have a plant to share, you will still leave with one or two or more!! It is handy to bring a bucket or container for you new wet friends.
We hope you will join us this year for a relaxing evening with food, gardening friends, and new plants!
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2022 Colorado Water Garden Society Plant Sale
By: Dorothy Martinez
Please add Sunday, June 5th to your calendar. This will be the date for this year’s Club Plant Sale.
If you are a current CWGS member, you will have the first opportunity to purchase plants from 9:00 am to 10:00 am. If you have a specific plant in mind that you would like to purchase, this is the ideal time to shop, as the Sale opens to the public at 10:00 am.
If you are wanting to join CWGS, just go to: https://www.colowatergardensociety.org/, scroll down to the “Become a Member/Renew, click on it, and follow the prompts to join.
If you wish to renew, have your Member User Name and Password handy and login to the website (the login is located in the upper right-hand corner of the Homepage) with your Member User Name and Password. Forgot your User Name and Password, no problem, just click on “Lost Password” and you will be able to obtain your User Name and Password. Once you are logged onto the website, scroll down to the “Become a Member/Renew”, click on it, and follow the prompts to renew.
The Sale will end at 2:00 pm or sooner if we run out of plants.
For more information, please contact Vicki Aber at (303) 423-9216 or docvicki@msn.com.
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Collective Wisdom, Growing Waterlilies in Containers
By: Compiled By Jacklyn Rodman and Jeannie Suffern
[The articles featured in this column and in future Journal issues have been gathered from the collective wisdom freely shared on the IWGS Facebook page. Our goal is to ensure that these types of discussions can continue to be accessed by the waterlily collective as a whole.]
In a recent Facebook discussion, Rachelle LaPointe asked if any members grew waterlilies in pots or containers, and asked for growing tips and pictures. “I’m looking to grow in containers and have been researching it, but I always find better tips and information from groups most often. Just general things that helped/things to avoid that anyone’s had problems with. If after time they need to be switched into bigger pots. If a certain substrate works best or if they should be planted with other plants. Those kinds of things.” This topic resonated with the IWGS Facebook community, who responded with many different ideas.
Josh Schreiber: I propagate and grow mine in live- stock tanks. I just plant mine with topsoil and landscape pebbles and let them be. Mine grow very well that way.
Jo Lockerby: I keep mine in 60 liter tubs, they should be at least 30 cm deep. I’ve had heaps of success doing it this way. You just need to keep topping up the containers every couple days and fertilize with slow-release aquatic plant fertilizer tablets ever 1 – 2 months. If you have frost where you live, you may need some advice for winter keeping if not they just go dormant. They also will need re-potting and root separation every couple of years to stop it strangling itself. There’re some good videos of this on YouTube. Oh, and at least 6 hours of direct sun (preferably morning if you’re somewhere really hot) to keep them flowering.
Jake Bernard: We say 15 cm – 45 cm, but some varieties can be up to a meter deep.
Mal Gomu Plants: It can be grown even on a dixie cup. See “How to grow waterlilies in a small cup” at https://youtu.be/NQc8fovV77I.
Sabrina Seheri: Thank you for sharing this valuable clip. It was very helpful video.
Jani Tiller: We have harsh winters in Slovenia, so the containers are dug into the ground.
Jake Bernard: The funny thing is I don’t take pictures of container gardens, cause it’s all around me at all times. It’s our main focus as a business. But the trick is clarifying plants, mosquito fish, ramshorn snails, and lilies for shade. Fertilizer once a month, repot every 6 – 9 months (in Hawaii), and prune the dead plant material every once in a while, and 4 – 5 months syphoning out debris.
Muhammad Fawad: I grow 100 of mine in pots. Yours are just fine.
Pete O’Connell: I grow several tropicals in pots. Things I’ve learned – Use white or light colored pots, if you are where days get hot. If you use dark pots in hot areas, no direct afternoon sun. My water temperature exceeded 120°F before I moved the pots a bit. Dark blue pots. Key West, Florida
Justin Titus: The leaves don’t dry out?
Rich Sacher: I was surprised to see waterlilies grown like this, all over Thailand. The older leaves suffered and dried out, but because of the high humidity, there were always four or five new, young leaves, in good condition, to keep the lily in bloom.
Amrit Kombrabail: Extremely healthy plant!
Tish Reeder Folsom: Any container that holds water can hold aquatic plants of some sort.
Michele Rabon: Wow, you all have beautiful lilies. What do you put on them for insects/bugs? (Aphids.) Something keeps eating my leaves.
Rich Sacher: When we visited natives along the Amazon, many used recycled wood boats, filled with soil, and raised off the ground. And most of them were growing onions in them! Onions!
Steve Stroupe: “Country folk” from all over the globe just use whatever is handy, free, or cheap. I’ve used old wheelbarrows, discarded coolers, and even an old ash bucket. Maybe the Amazon River dwellers needed raised onion beds for proper drainage, as onions can be rather picky in that regard?
Rich Sacher: Yes, the raised boats were to aid in good drainage. I was just surprised that onions were the crop of choice.
Steve Stroupe: That would have been a good question to ask them.
Rich Sacher: An interpreter would have been helpful.
Rachelle LaPointe: Beautiful! Any tips on growing in containers? Thanks! How large are those?
Kelly Billing: 20” diameter. Growing depends on your climate.
Rachelle LaPointe: I live in Massachusetts, USA, and get winters.
Kelly Billing: That far north, and even here in MD, I slide mine into the garage during extreme temperatures against the warmest wall.
Venkatesh Babu: Colorado in an old paint bucket.
Lorraine Smith: Unfortunately, wholesale growers guard their secrets on growing.
Justin Titus: Kelly wrote a book on growing lotus. All the wholesale lotus growers I know are very open about cultivation. If the end customer doesn’t know how to grow lotus, the wholesale grower won’t have any customers.
Marc Hachadourian: I’m still trying to find a nice set of bowls to grow lilies in – all the stuff I find near me seems to be either too kitschy or too small.
Carlos Magdalena: Same here!
Marc Hachadourian: The nearest I can find is 100s of miles away.
Carlos Magdalena: Here either tacky, plastic, or mega expensive. Then, the risk of cracking with ice, etc.
*Article reprinted with permission from the International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society (Spring 2021 IWGS Journal, Volume 36, Number 1, Pages 8 - 10)*
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One of my favorite marginals.....Mare's Tail
By: Brenda Parsons-Hier
I like a variety of texture and color in our ponds. Although it only offers lush green color, the texture of Mare's Tail (Hipuris vulgaris) is vastly different from other water plants. The feathery, delicately cut leaves resemble a miniature pine tree forest about 6 - 10 inches tall at the edge of the pond. The pot can be submerged 3 - 4 inches deep in water (pond or container). The plant can possibly grow in wet soil, although I have not tried this. It grows in sun or part shade as a creeping rhizome. To propagate, take stem cuttings or divide the plant. One other plant that is similar to Mare's Tail is Parrot Feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum), but this does not overwinter for me as it is hardy from Zones 6 - 11. Mare's Tail is hardy to Zone 4. The Club should have some Mare's Tail at the Plant Sale on June 5th. Give it a try and enjoy!
If you have any questions, please contact me at: moose.4bph@q.com
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