We were busy again at Florida Aquatic Nurseries in 2008 working on hybridizing tropical waterlilies.  We came up with many new plants that illustrate the traits we are looking for in selecting waterlilies for the future.  The following is a sampling of some of our favorites from the past season.  The flowers are all different colors from pinks to blues to reds and violets.  We even have an autumn flowering viviparous tropical waterlily that turned out to be quite spectacular.  My personal favorite is 1508.  It has a unique bluish purple flower with tons of petals and strikingly mottled pads.  All of these plants are still in the initial testing phases from which we will select the most vigorous lilies to name and grow for the future.  Some of the plants will be used for future hybridizing and others may be selected as named bybrids or discarded.  Overall, it looks like the future will continue to bring many new tropical waterlily hybrids from Florida Aquatic Nurseries. For 2009 we will work on both hardy and tropical plants looking to develop new waterlilies in each category.

Hybrid 308

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 808

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 908

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 1208

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 1508

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 1807

Tropical Day blooming Waterlily

Viviparous

Hybrid 2008

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 2608

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 4007

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 4207

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Hybrid 5007

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily

Viviparous

Hybrid 4407

Tropical Day Blooming Waterlily