Red Lilies - Trial - Catskill Native Nursery

Red Water Lilies

Red pigment in hardy water lilies is thought to primarily come from the Swedish water lily, Nymphaea alba var. rubra. Which helps explain why many varieties of red lily suffer petal burn in the hot weather and intense direct sun under which we usually grow water lilies. The flowers of the Swedish water lily change color over the 4 day period they are open, deepening in color each day (though days 3 and 4 are often quite similar). This suggests that the Swedish water lily is one of the parents for "changeable" varieties of water lily, the flowers of which deepen in color from yellow to orange to red over their lifetime.

I suppose some red pigment could also be coming from the pink form of N. odorata. Granted, that pink tends to be a uniform rich pink, whereas in most "red" lilies the pigment is distributed more in a mottled or spotted form - so perhaps not - food for thought.

Botanists in the field often use the acronym GDYC when asked to identify one of the numerous yellow members of the daisy family, many of which are hard to distinguish. GDYC stands for God Damn Yellow Composite. From my experience looking at red water lilies I've come up with another acronym, GDRL - there's probably a good dozen red water lily varieties that not even their growers could distinguish if asked to identify them once their labels had been removed. I lump them together as God Damn Red Lilies. I've never bothered to include many red varieties of lily in my collection. What would be the point? One may have a few more or a few less petals; one may be a little bigger or a little smaller; one may have a little more or a little less white on the predominantly red petals. But they all pretty much look like slight variations on a theme.

'Andreana'

'Cranberry'

'Gypsy'

'Laydekeri Fulgens'

'Perry's Super Red'

'Attraction'

'Ellisiana'

'Hidden Violet'

'Liou'

'Black Princess'

'Escarboucle'

'Indiana'

'Perry's Baby Red'

'Charlie's Choice'

'Fireball'

'James Brydon'

'Perry's Dwarf Red'

'Andreana'

We've grown this compact lily in a tall ceramic pot for many years. It flowers well and the relatively large volume of water in the pot keeps the water a little cooler than in our smaller pots. I sometimes see this variety listed as a "changeable" variety. Can't imagine why. The flower will deepen in color a little over it's lifetime - like most red lilies - but it's a pretty subtle change.

'Attraction'

The first red lily I owned and the only one in my koi pond for many years - it remains one of my favorites. Good form, uniform rich color, reliable performance. What's not to like? Well, the color I suppose. It really is more of a deep pink color than red. Third or fourth day flowers, under certain lighting conditions do come closer to red than pink. And, quite frankly, there are a number of "red" lilies that are closer to deep hot pink in color than red - 'Attraction' is not alone in this regard.

'Black Princess'

I've probably taken more pictures of this Perry Slocum variety than any other red lily, in an attempt at capturing its exquisite color. It really is a "red" lily - even on the first day it's open. Over the next couple of days the center of the flower darkens to a very dark red almost black color. This is a very unique color combination (there's one other Slocum variety, 'Almost Black,' that is similar). While uniquely beautiful, that deep color is a problem for the lily in hot weather and intensely sunny days. The inner petals scorch in a most unattractive way. However, the lily is so spectacular in color that this one defect can be forgiven.

'Charlie's Choice'

A very unique lily. The color is hard to describe. Is it peach, pink or red? A combination of all three? Changeable? The base color is white. Some writers describe the base color as apricot to yellow. I don't see it. 1st day flowers don't have much red color and can best be described as pink. Red pigment increases over the life of the flower and a 3rd or 4th day flower definitely can be described as red. The peach color - the color developed by say 'Peach Glow' - again I don't really see it. The flowers are quite large for the size of the plant, but the plant also produces a plethora of leaves and the flowers sometimes get buried under an avalanche of foliage. This may be partly because we grow our plants in tubs - perhaps this variety, although small enough to grow in a tub, would best be grown in a pond, even in an earthen bottom pond like you would grow a Nymphaea odorata hybrid. 'Charlie's Choice' is a Kirk Strawn hybrid picked out by Charles Thomas of Lily Pons Water Gardens.

'Cranberry'

This Tony Moore creation is new to our collection in 2020. It's very similar in color to 'Perry's Baby Red' - the plant is a larger grower and the flower is larger. First blooms appeared in 2021 and so far it seems like it's going to be a good bloomer as well.

'Ellisiana'

A perfectly good, medium sized lily but there's also not much that's remarkable about it. We no longer have it in our lily collection.

'Escarboucle'

A 1909 Marliac hybrid, 'Escarboucle' joins 'Attraction' in being one of our favorite reds. It has a little larger size and somewhat more stellate form than 'Attraction.' On the other hand there's a lot more white on its petals - they lack 'Attraction's uniform, rich color. All-in-all though, a great water lily.

'Fireball'

Another Perry Slocum red. I find the overall effect of the flower to be more "vivid pink" then red. However, the innermost petals are indeed a dark red color (computer color picker hex#990a1f), so I suppose it's best to leave it in with the "reds." In some ways this is just a paler version of 'Perry's Baby Red.' Petal count is higher though giving it more of a peony flower form. It's not as free-flowering as 'Baby Red' - perhaps it simply isn't as amenable to tub culture - Slocum does recommend it for medium to large pools so perhaps it would flower more prolifically grown in an earthen bottom pond.

'Gypsy'

One of the few reds produced by Kirk Strawn. Although I suppose it could be considered another GDRL, like most of Strawn's hybrids it's a prolific flowerer. That free flowering nature has kept it in our collection - that and the fact that it is a moderate spreader, doing well in the small and medium sized ponds that many of our customers seem to own.

'Hidden Violet'

This odd-shaped lily certainly qualifies for one of the attributes I like to see in a water lily - uniqueness. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing in this case I'm somewhat undecided on. I will say that some horticultural creations - and here I'm not thinking of water lilies, but of more conventional garden plants - are simply god-awful looking but because they are unique they have their enthusiasts. They are distorted plants like contorted white pine, Pinus strobus 'Torulosa'; or variegated plants that look more like they are ill - perhaps infected with a plant virus - than attractive (check out variegated Carolina Silverbell, Halesia tetraptera 'Silver Splash' - we won't be selling that variety at Catskill Native Nursery, I can tell you that). But back to water lilies. Some flowers of 'Hidden Violet' are more contorted than others. Some are very nice looking lilies - just with more narrow petals. Others, I look at them and cringe a little. So for the time being it remains in our collection, but it's on the watch list. On the plus side, the color is a good strong red, and the inner petals do not burn.

'Indiana'

This lily is usually placed in the "changeable" category, but really it simply behaves like most other red lilies, starting out a strong pink on day 1, then deepening to red by days 3 and 4. That change is shown in the first picture in the slideshow, with a day 1 flower on the right, and a mature flower on the left. A true "changeable" to my mind starts at yellowish then deepens through orange to almost red by days 3 and 4. We really don't have any in our collection. Why not? I simply don't think they are very good lilies. A day one changeable is supposed to be yellow in color. But it wouldn't be considered a very good yellow compared with true yellow varieties. Similarly, a day two orange changeable isn't as good as a true "peach" lily and a day 3 or 4 red changeable isn't as good as a true red lily. A lily that opens yellow and changes to red sounds magical - in reality though the show is rather muted in appearance. Most changeable lilies don't do any one color very well. Rather than growing one of the dwarf changeables in a ceramic pot on my patio, I'd rather have a pure orange 'Little Sue,' a pure red 'Andreana,' or a pure yellow 'Frieda B.'

Moreover I've yet to find a changeable that is particularly good at flowering. Perhaps the lilies I've had were mislabeled. Perry Slocum describes 'Aurora' as "one of the most beautiful waterlilies ever created" and "very free flowering." Mine hardly ever flowered. Could this be explained by Slocum's description of 'Chrysantha'? "...an ideal plant for a tub garden or a small pool except in very hot regions, where it does not bloom well." Perhaps - but my collection is in New York, not, say, Florida.

As a child I had 'Comanche' in my koi pond. It started out an ok yellow then took on some orange tones as the flower aged. Nothing spectacular and certainly not as good a yellow as 'Chromatella' which I also had in the pond. To take the other side for a moment, I do recall reading at the time that some lilies labeled 'Comanche' weren't very colorful and could be more appropriately labeled 'Yellow Comanche' - so perhaps I had an inferior impostor. I've never tried growing 'Comanche' after that - pictures in Slocum's book certainly look like 'Comanche' is an attractive lily.

'James Brydon'

A classic lily that we've been growing for many, many years. Unlike most lilies from the early 1900s this one is not a Marliac creation, but from Dreer Nurseries, Riverton, New Jersey - introduced in 1900. However, a Marliac creation, probably one of his medium-sized "Laydekeri" varieties was almost certainly used in the parentage of 'James Brydon.' This is another lily that ranges heavily toward the pink side - I often find it described as "rose-red." 'James Brydon' is a very free flowering variety and it does not burn in intense sun. The flower form is somewhere between cup-shaped and peony - it's color and form are unique - if we lose the label out of our stock pot over the winter (happens a lot), we have no trouble identifying this variety once it starts flowering.

'Laydekeri Fulgens'

Perry Slocum calls this 1895 introduction from Marliac "one of the most magnificent waterlilies of all time." I'd have to agree. It's always among the first lilies to start blooming in the spring. You'd think it would slow down as the heat of summer kicks in - well it does a little, but not much. The cup-shaped flowers have rich color and they don't burn in intense sunlight.

'Liou'

This variety is similar to 'Laydekeri Fulgens.' But it's a little smaller, a little less free flowering, and doesn't flower as early in the season. Nice lily but we kept 'Laydekeri Fulgens' instead (occasionally we have a few 'Liou' on hand for sale that we get from another grower).

'Perry's Baby Red'

If I had to pick one water lily to grow in a water bowl it would be 'Perry's Baby Red.' It's taken up permanent residence in one of the two half-whiskey barrels we have out for display in the nursery sales area. It flowers well, has great form and color, doesn't burn in intense sun - what's not to like? Nothing. To me it's clearly related to 'Black Princess.' According to Perry Slocum though, it's parentage is 'Alba Plenissima' x 'Atropurpurea' while 'Black Princess' is 'Perry's Fire Opal' x 'Pamela.' 'Pamela' though is a tropical lily - we know that Perry was trying to hybridize tropical and hardy lilies - most think he did not succeed, despite his claim about the parentage of 'Black Princess.' Instead I'll go with 'Black Princess' being a sibling of 'Perry's Baby Red.' They have similar flower farm and color - 'Black Princess' is simply a shade or two or three darker. 'Perry's Baby Red' was introduced in 1989. 'Black Princess' followed shortly thereafter in 1995.

'Perry's Dwarf Red'

This lily is hard to find. I was very excited when I was able to get my hands on a plant. And even more excited when I saw the first flower appear. It's a beautiful flower - nice color, elegant double form. As you can guess from the name, it's a compact grower, perfectly suitable for tub culture. However, the lily has one problem - its burns really badly in the sun - not even intense sun - if the sun is out for an extended period of time, the flower will burn. The last two photos show a flower that has some burning - it's not even a bad case. I never took a photo of a flower that had burned badly - there were many. I got to the point I just couldn't stand seeing these beautiful flowers looking scorched. I believe I threw it on our compost pile. I know now why the lily is hard to find. It's not a variety that anyone should be selling. Perhaps it could be grown in Alaska or Iceland.

'Perry's Super Red'

Another lily that I was really excited to be able to obtain. Why wouldn't you be after reading the description in Perry Slocum's book: "Nymphaea 'Perry's Super Red' flowers are more double than any other red waterlily I know, the color is particularly glowing and brilliant, and their size places this cultivar (along with N. 'Atropurpurea' and N. 'Attraction' among the largest of the red hardy waterlilies." And have a look at the picture in Slocum's book - Wow! So when the first flower opened, "disappointment" would be an understatement. It's another GDRL I muttered to myself. Large flower? Check. Very double? Check. Glowing and brilliant color? Not so much. In fact the color was such a let down that I immediately wondered if I had been sent the wrong lily. The flower before me looked more like a pink lily than a red lily. Searching through the pinks I came across 'Somptuosa.' And for a while that's the label I put in the stock pot. But when you compare it with other pinks it really is a bit deeper in color. Still, there's a lot of white on this flower, and there's a lot of pink - with a bit of red on some of the innermost petals. So I'm still not entirely convinced this is the "real McCoy" - I need to get my hands on a 'Somptuosa' or perhaps another 'Perry's Super Red' from a different source to compare - neither lily though is common in the trade, 'Somptuosa' in particular being quite rare.