Water Plants History Tour by Gianluca Bonomo

In this article I will write about a wonderful adventure; a long 6.000 miles trip around the USA, from north to south, visiting nurseries and hybridizers, living the history of water plants in America.
It was spring in Italy, year 2017 and after meeting virtually many nice people thanks to Facebook I thought was time to meet those people in real life, people that love water plants, from waterlilies and lotus, to any other kind of plants that love to live in water and wetlands.

I wrote a list of addresses of nursery and hybridizers in USA and checked the position of them on the map, like a dot to dot child’s game I started from point 1 and joined the other points on the list, one near the other, from north to south; from the cold border with Canada to the warm city of Miami. A long trip to retrace the history of water plants.
My starting point was Buffalo, NY, where I landed with a friend at the airport on Monday morning, September 18, and we rented a car to go to Bergen, a 56 miles trip from the airport, about one-hour travel.

Gianluca, Larry and Lily

Ultimate thousand petal lotus and Betty Lou.
We met Lily and Larry Nau in a local bakery, where we had lunch together and talked about our common passion. After lunch we went to their nursery, Bergen Water Gardens, where they showed us their huge lotus collection, together with ponds everywhere filled with waterlilies and bog plants. I saw for the first time the huge bloom of ‘Ultimate Thousand Petals’ lotus and Nymphaea ‘Betty Lou’, Rich Sacher’s hybrid of an Australian waterlily.

Larry working with lotus

Lily and carnivorous plants

Gianluca, Larry and Lily at Bergen Watergarden entrance

Gianluca, Larry Lily and Davide at Ontario lake

BBQ Dinner
They showed us the koi greenhouse, the carnivorous plants collection and the Chinese pottery with wonderful handmade lotus drawings. After the long, guided tour of the nursery we went to eat a “small” ice cream and visited Ontario lake on Rochester lakeside. Later Lily and Larry took us to a BBQ restaurant in Rochester where we finished the day with a “light” dinner!
Later we left our new friends after a wonderful day spent together traveling to Niagara Falls, about a one-hour trip from Bergen, where we had a short night walk on the falls before falling asleep in the hotel bed.

Niagara falls
The next day was dedicated to Niagara Falls, flying on a helicopter tour and visiting the Canadian side of the falls. In the early afternoon we left Canada for a long 6-hour trip, about 330 miles. We stopped in York for the night, and the next day, Wednesday September 20, we had a good breakfast in a typical city market and left the city to go to Jarrettsville, a half hour trip, to meet Kelly Billing at Maryland Aquatic Nurseries.

Maryland Aquatic Nursery entrance
We found a wonderful place full of greenhouses and ponds filled with a huge quantity of all kinds of water plants, from waterlilies, lotus, water iris and bog plants to various floating plants.

Maryland Aquatic Nursery office

Maryland Aquatic Nursery greenhouse
We were greeted by a friendly Kelly Billing, that talked to us about the nursery and showed us her working place, starting from her office with wonderful lotus paintings on the wall, then she brought us through the many greenhouses and explained all what we were looking at; bog plant greenhouses, waterlily greenhouses, shallow water plants and external ponds. She explained to us how they work, how they prepare plants for shipment, and showed us their patented floating island product line. They are floating pots that can be placed in any kind of pot or water feature to grow water plants even in deep water thanks to the floating method.

Gianluca and Kelly in the backyard
After that we spent some time talking in the backyard pond of owner Richard Schuck and listening to her information about visiting Longwood Gardens, our next step that afternoon.
On midday we left Kelly with much more knowledge about water plants and started a short one-hour trip to Longwood Gardens where we were greeted by Matthew Ross, another new now “real” friend, and not only a Facebook profile!

Matthew and Gianluca at Longwood gardens

Victoria at Longwood gardens
He brought us to see the aquatic display part of the huge gardens. We saw many wonderful ponds with Victoria on display, Victoria cruziana, Victoria amazonica and the hybrid created in that garden, called the Longwood hybrid. That is the cross between Victoria cruziana and Victoria amazonica, that they recreate it every year crossing the two Victoria species.

IWGS waterlily contest at Longwood gardens

Dancing fountains at Longwood gardens
He explained to us how they work to grow many of the water plants they have, and then showed us the new waterlily varieties on display for 2017 International Waterlily and Water Gardening Societies (IWGS) New Waterlily Competition. After that long guided tour Matthew left us free to visit the rest of the gardens by ourselves, admiring the dancing fountain show and walking around some of the 1,000 acres of park.
It was another great day that was coming to an end with more information and more emotions together for a great trip we just started!
We left the garden on route to Washington D.C., a 2-hour trip, 120 miles, planning to visit the US Capital the next day. On Thursday we visited the city, all the presidential memorials, museums and gardens. We found some ponds around and one was in a botanical garden, with white waterlilies and many bog plants, and another one was in the garden of the National Museum of the American Indian. Yes… I went to Washington D.C. to discover ponds with water plants!!!

Waterlilies at Washington Botanical Garden

Pond at Native Indian Museum, Washington
The day after we left the city for a short trip to Adamstown, MD, to visit Margaret Koogle and her Lilypons Water Gardens, a historical nursery created by Charles Thomas and family. It was a huge space filled with natural ponds which started as fish growing farm and became one of the biggest and more famous water plant nurseries in the USA.

Gianluca, Davide and Margaret at Lilypons Water Gardens

Working at Lilypons Water Gardens
Margaret greeted us friendly and showed us part of the 250-acre nursery. There were ponds everywhere, starting from koi ponds, where we fed the happy fishes, to the show and growing ponds as well as some wild ponds.

Gianluca and Margaret at Lilypons Water Gardens Shop
After that we visited the Lilypons gift shop, where you can find many pond tools and decorations, and talked about what will be the future of that nursery and about many Margaret projects in addition to that.
Margaret talked to us about a nearby city, called Frederick, where Lilypons provides water plants for a water channel that flows through the city. She showed us pictures and we decided to go to visit that city. We greeted Margaret and started a short trip to Frederick, where we found a wonderful small town with a park in the center with a slow water channel that was flowing. The channel was filled with many different water plants, from waterlilies, lotus, canna indica, thalia and other bog plants. It was a beautiful surprise and I advise everyone to go to that city to visit this beauty channel and eat at Brewer’s Alley, a delicious restaurant near the water plants park. (No, they don’t pay me for advertising!!!).

Waterplants in Frederick
After lunch we took the car for a new long 5-hour trip, more than 300 miles, going to Charleston, WV, where we spent the night to be ready for the next day’s visit. It was Saturday, September 23, when we woke up in the morning. We had a quick and light breakfast (3 donuts and a hot chocolate) and then left for Hamlin.
A one-hour trip to what should be the future of waterlily hybridization, and a waterlily paradise, Mike Giles land.

Breakfast in Charleston
After leaving paved roads we took a dirt road, surrounded with trees, in the middle of the West Virginia forest… after a long drive we saw a long-bearded man walking in the middle of the trees come toward us, we found Mike, the West Virginia bigfoot! So, he is not only a legend, he is a real man!!!

Gianluca and Mike Giles

Mike´s Pond
He jumped in our car and we went together to his paradise. A hill with ponds full of unknown and wonderful waterlilies. He showed us his work, explained how he hybridizes waterlilies, talked about the many problems he has with his ponds because of a lack of water and broken embankments on the main pond.

Mike cutting flowers

Gianluca with Mike´s Flowers
After that, he removed all his clothes and entered his bigger pond, where he started to cut waterlily flowers for us. Looking for the biggest and best ones, one by one, picking more than 100 wonderful flowers, providing information about each one, as if they were his children! Then we put all the flowers in shade, and talked again for a long time about him, his projects, and his huge work crossing hardy waterlilies with tropical waterlilies to find new colors for hardy varieties.

Mike Giles and Tony Moore
In the late morning we were joined by another great hybridizer, Tony Moore, and with him we started to visit Mike’s other ponds, the older ones, where he started to hybridize hardy waterlilies like ‘Sunfire’, ‘Yellow Watermelon’ and many other beautiful varieties.

Gianluca, Davide, Tony and Mike
We had a long talk with both gentlemen and it was nice to find such kind and friendly people. We went back to Mike’s home, enjoyed some rest together and then we started another trip to visit more places and meet new people.
The next step was in North Carolina, a long 6-hour trip with another night in a hotel to relax and prepare for another new intense day. It was early Sunday morning when we left our hotel to go to meet Nikki Gibson, at the nursery of one of the most prolific hybridizers of the twentieth century in the USA, Perry Slocum. We arrived at Perry’s Water Gardens in the morning. Nikki was there only for us, as it would be a closed day for her. She met us with her big smile and kindly brought us to visit the nursery and the ponds where her grandfather used to work on new waterlilies and lotuses. We talked about the nursery, about her family and about the huge work she has to do in the nursery. I ask her about some of the Perry varieties that are not easy to find in the market, because of my work to become a conservatory of all the possible hardy varieties. She could only give me 2 of them, because unluckily some are lost.

Perry’s Water Gardens entrance

Gianluca and Nikki Gibson at Perry’s Water Gardens

Ponds at Perry’s Water Gardens
Later we left Franklin, NC, to start another 6-hour trip, 370 miles, to Hartford, AL.
(34-35)
We woke up on Monday morning to meet sweetie Laura Bancroft with her husband Steve at their home. We had a delicious breakfast all together and after that we went to Ten Mile Creek Nursery in Hartford, AL. At her nursery Laura showed us the place where she grows a huge quantity of lotus, for retail and wholesale customers. She taught us her growing tips; how to grow lotus in small pots and how to keep water levels high to avoid drying out. We saw the working place where the lotus is harvested and divided.
Some of the plants were still flowering and we admired the beautiful September flowers.

Steve, Laura, Gianluca and Davide having Breakfast at Laura’s home

Gianluca and Laura at Ten Mile Creek Nursery
After the visit and filled with so much useful information we left the nursery to go to the main town, where we had a delicious lunch in a local restaurant before leaving Hartford for another 330-mile trip, 4 and half hours going to New Orleans.

Laura, Steve and Gianluca having lunch
We arrived in the evening and met Rich and Kevin at their house, I was very happy to meet Rich again, he is a very special person, friendly and kind. He brought us to our big house for the night, a wonderfully typical New Orleans building surrounded with trees and plants everywhere.

Gianluca, Rich, Kevin and Davide having dinner in New Orleans
The day after we met with Rich and Kevin for breakfast in a hotel in the famous French Quarter, after that we went to the botanical garden, where Rich manages the ponds. The ponds are filled with many kinds of waterlilies, Australian, hardy, and even Victoria cruziana. A wonderful and well-kept pond with dark water that reflected the clear blue sky. After the botanical garden Rich took us to his nursery, American Aquatic Gardens, a wonderful place with all kinds of stuff for ponds and many plants on display. Ponds and pots with tropical and hardy waterlilies, statues and metallic gadgets with rainbow colors, plants for ponds and borders and gardens, fountains and water features.

New Orleans botanical garden

Rich and Gianluca at American Aquatic Garden
Rich showed us the greenhouse where he works hybridizing new varieties. Most of them are crossed with common Brachyceras and Australian Anechpya tropical waterlilies, to create an Australian waterlily that is as easy to grow as a common tropical waterlily.

Rich’s Greenhouse

Rich and Gianluca at Casa Grande
After the nursery and shop tour we went in a nearby restaurant for lunch, then we left Rich to go for a boat ride on the Mississippi river. Later we met Rich again to go to our home, take our luggage, and to thank Rich for the wonderful days spent together. Then we started the longest trip, about 900 miles and more than 12 hours to reach Miami, Florida. The trip lasted two days, we stopped after 6 hours and rested in a hotel, then restarted the next day reaching Miami.
It was September 28, Thursday morning, when we met Brandon McLane, at his place of business, Florida Aquatic Nursery. It is one of the biggest realities in the world of aquatic plants, they supply water plants for ponds, aquariums and gardens all over the world. It is a well-organized nursery with many employees that produce a huge quantity of all kinds of water plants. Brandon showed us their open-air ponds and greenhouses. Some were hit by the recent hurricane and they were working to fix them. All the plants were divided by variety in different ponds and large pots. At the bottom of the nursery there was also a big pond where sometimes alligators came to enjoy the water plants!
After the nursery tour we greeted Brandon and left to go to a nearby swamp for an airboat tour. Then we took the car and left Miami to go to Naples, FL.

Gianluca and Brandon at Florida Aquatic Nursery

Working at Florida Aquatic Nursery
The next day we went to visit Everglades City and the swamp full of water plants. The city was still destroyed from the hurricane. All the shops and public activities were closed. Outside the houses all the furniture was crowded out because it was ruined by the water and all the people were working to fix all the problems.

Hurricane at Everglades City
Going back from Everglades City we found a boat trip still open and we did another airboat tour, navigating through the mangroves looking for alligators. Then we went for some relaxation on the Naples wild and wonderful beach.

Airboat tour at Everglades

Mel’s Diner Naples
The day was finishing, and we went for dinner to a local restaurant recommended from the hotel manager; Mel’s Diner, a typical American restaurant with delicious food, that became our official restaurant for the days we spent in Naples. The following day we planned to meet Daniel Cox, the manager of water plants in the Naples Botanical Garden. The garden was still closed because of the hurricane but it would be reopened the next day.

Gianluca and Daniel at Naples Botanical Garden
Daniel brought us around the garden, showing us the many ponds and explaining everything we were looking at. Is a wonderful botanical garden with a huge water plants section. There were Victoria waterlilies, and many others tropical and hardy ones. Together with many bog plants everywhere. There was also a space for kids where they can understand how plants grow and develop. We saw the backyard where the plants are kept for conservatory, and we went into the external water channels that naturally grow many tropical and hardy waterlilies and water plants typical of Florida swamp lands. It was an interesting tour where Daniel taught us a lot about local flora the species of water plants that grow in the Florida wetlands. After that we greeted Daniel and went for a short trip to visit Marco Island.

Victorias and tropicals at Naples Botanical Gardens

Daniel in the backyard of Naples Botanical Garden
On Monday, October 2, we went back to Miami, where my friend Davide left for the airport to go back to Italy and I stayed for 15 more days to play beach volleyball with my Miami friends, relax spending some time on the beaches, and spend some money buying clothes and goods in the Florida shopping malls!

Beach Volley in SOBE Miami
Before going back to Italy, I realized a dream. I went to Las Vegas for “The Million Dollar Piano” show. It was the Elton John show at the Colosseum theatre at Caesars Palace. I then went back to Miami where my luggage was waiting for me and on Tuesday, October 17, my long trip was going to end with the flight that brought me back to Italy.

Elton John at Colosseum Las Vegas

Vegas
This is a short history of a long trip that gave me the way to meet wonderful people living in a faraway country. They were the people that met you for the first time and seemed as if they knew you for a long time. People that love the same things I love, and I loved that trip. I hope I can meet those people again soon, maybe in the next IWGS symposium in September, 2018.
Video story of the trip!