Nymphaea or True Water Lily.
Many species
of water lily are to be found in streams and
ponds in all parts of the world ; in England,
however, there is only one native species-
Nymphaea alba. By careful selection and
cultivation the water gardener has evolved
over a hundred different varieties that can
be grown in outdoor ponds in this country.
The native variety may be purchased for
threepence or sixpence a root ; at the other
end of the scale are the aristocrats of the pool,
with incredibly beautiful blooms, costing three
or four guineas a root. For half a crown,
or thereabouts, the lily will be planted in a
basket by the nurseryman.
A last word about water lilies before proceeding with the list of varieties-they love
sunshine and will give of their best in the
uninterrupted rays of Old Sol.
In the following list of dependable varieties
examples of each principal colour are given
for the different water depths. The prices
of plants here mentioned are from two shillings
to seven shillings each.
For planting in small shallow pools or tubs.
Candida. Snow white.
'Odorata minor. White, fragrant.
Pygmaea helvola. Yellow, a very small
plant is this.
Aurora. Copper.
Odorata Rosea. Pink.
Laydeckeri purpurata. Crimson-purple.
For the small pool a foot to eighteen inches deep,
with a diameter up to five feet.
Albatross. White.
Sulphurea grandiflora. Sulphur.
Odorata Wm. Shaw. Pink.
Marliacea flammea. Red.
" ignea. Bright red.
For the average pond, two feet deep and up to ten
feet in diameter.
Marliacea alba. White.
Marliacea chromatella. Yellow.
Tuberosa rosea. Rose.
Arethusa. Red.
For large ponds and lakes, to be planted in three
feet or more of water.
Tuberosa maxima. White.
Colonel Welch. Yellow.
Colossea. Pink.
Marliacea rubra punctata. Rose, spotted
with dark crimson.
Two further plants in this category remain
to be mentioned. One is Villarsia, a plant
that resembles Nuphar in habit ; the flowers
are yellow and trumpet-shaped and at one
time could be seen occasionally in country
streams and ponds. The other plant is
Aponogeton, otherwise the Cape Water Lily
or Water Hawthorn, a delightful and most
useful plant either for a large, shallow pond
or for a small pool. The leaves are spear-
shaped and lie flat on the water, the flowers
are white with black centres and have a
fragrance reminiscent of hawthorn. They
should be planted in the same way as the
water lily, in a foot of water, for preference.
The price per root varies between ninepence
and a shilling and sixpence for the commoner
species-the most common is Aponogeton
distachyon, and this, in my opinion, is as
lovely a plant as any of the expensive kinds.
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