This is my entry for the thematic challenge in the #amazingnature community. This post is a sort of documentation of how I fell in love with waterlilies (Nymphaea). I guess I was about 5 years old when I saw a huge pond of waterlilies like this one in my header image. I was at the hospital and had to wait for my number to be called for my penicillin jab.
I sat there at the pond with my dad and watched the waterlilies there, I felt so happy and content watching them sway in the wind. However, when I asked my dad if I could grow some of those he told me it was an expensive hobby which he could ill afford to support.That made me sad as a little child.
I had the hope that some day I would have my own water lilies. Nonetheless, whenever I inquired about the price of these aquatic plants it left my head reeling. The cost of the ponds were much higher. I almost gave up on growing waterlilies. Then I came across a social media group where peope exchanged plants. This group also discussed about how to grow these plants and gave us newbies some tips.
Dauben
I then had the opportunity of giving an elderly woman some free seeds and she in return sent me one of her tiny waterlily tubers. This one was a tropical waterlilies called Dauben. Later, I got some hardy waterlilies in exchange for my bromeliads. Now, I grow six varieties of waterlilies in my garden.
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In this tropical region these plants boom from April to November before they go dormant. Dauben never really goes dormant, it blooms less in winter. Dauben multiplies like a weed once it establishes itself. Now, I give them away free to anyone who wants them. I grow these tubers in big food containers so I can give them away. I feel no one should be deprived of a plant because of the price.
I also believe that Dauben is great for beginners. You can't really kill the plant. It thrives in neglect and blooms in abundance. It is not a huge flower like a Collarado or any other hardy, but makes up for its small size with numbers.
I have five huge tubs of waterlilies, I would love to expand the waterlily section of my terrace garden, but space is a huge constraint. The only way I could have more varieties is to divide the tubers and give them away to make space for others. I have been mulling over this for some time, but the lock-down doesn't allow me to move ahead with my plans. I need huge amounts of soil and other material to revamp my waterlily garden. Someday soon I would be able to do that, I hope.
I learned a few lessons from growing water lilies
- Never to give up on my dreams
- Nothing is impossible.
- Growing waterlilies I had been told was difficult, but now that I have had these for five years I now that waterlilies are the easiest plants to grow.
- Don't believe anything until you've tried it yourself.
- Joy and peace is what you gain from these amazing beauties you grow.
These are my reasons to believe that not just these images but the whole exercise of a growing plants is my amazing nature.
Except the first image all the others are from my garden.
All photographs used in this post belong to me.