The following new Waterlily hybrids have been grown out at The Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina. The official judges panel votes on August 26 and 27 of 2009.

All photos provided by Tamara L Kilbane

A yard stick has been used for scale of the whole plant.

A ruler was used for flower scale in the tropical photos. In most cases, the hardies bloomed less frequently so a true measurement was not able to be obtained on all specimens.

To be fair to all, no flower measurements were used on the hardy waterlilies.

Click on the pictures below to see multiple shots of each plant in a Adobe pdf. The file will automatically open in a new window for you.

The largest pdf file is just over 1 Mb so this way it will not interfere with your browsing if you are on dial up.

This will additionally make it easier to compare the plants by just clicking through the already open windows when making a selection.

Congratulations to the 2009 Winners

Best New Waterlily 

Best Tropical Waterlily
Nymphaea 'Tanzanite'

hybridized by Florida Aquatic Nurseries

Second Best Tropical Waterlily
Nymphaea 'Hot Pink'

hybridized by Florida Aquatic Nurseries

Best Hardy Waterlily
Nymphaea 'Cliff Tiffany'

hybridized by Fourth Generation Nursery

Second Best Hardy Waterlily
Nymphaea 'Cyprus Pink Star'

hybridized by Andreas Protopapas

2009 Entries Composite 

   

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Other Tropical Entries

Nymphaea 'Tropic Sunset'

hybridized by Florida Aquatic Nurseries

Nymphaea 'Silver Moon'

hybridized by Louis Belloisy

Other Hardy Entries

Hybrid 2008 - 2

Andreas Protopapas

Nymphaea 'Rattana Ubol'

hybridized by Pairat Songpanich

Hybrid 2007 - 1

hybridized by Andreas Protopapas

Nymphaea 'Stanley Angus Skinger'

hybridized by Andreas Protopapas

Nymphaea 'Rhianna'

hybridized by Burns Water Gardens

Nymphaea 'Tanpong'

hybridized by Pairat Songpanich

Hardy 8 did not bloom during the time it was grown out so unfortunately no picture was able to be obtained of it's flower.

 2009 People Choice Awards

The third annual People's Choice Awards for the International Waterlily Competition is complete.
The results were compiled by Tamara Kilbane of Duke Gardens.
They had a total of 1,675 votes this year in the public voting.
We want to congratulate the winners and thank all of those who voted on the Duke website.
The winner's are as follows.

Best Tropical Waterlily

Nymphaea 'Tanzanite'

hybridized by Florida Aquatic Nurseries

Second Best Tropical Waterlily

Nymphaea 'Silver Moon'

hybridized by Louis Belloisy

Best Hardy Waterlily

Nymphaea 'Rattana Ubol'

hybridized by Pairat Songpanich

Second Best Hardy Waterlily

Hybrid 2007 - 1

hybridized by Andreas Protopapas

Once again, congratulations to the winners in both contests.
We want to thank you for participating.
Please keep hybridizing and pushing the envelope for new and interesting material for the world to admire.
We look forward to next year's contest.

The IWGS would like to recognize Sarah P Duke Gardens and their enormous efforts for the 2009 Waterlily Competition.

Duke Gardens is a public non-profit botanical garden with no admission fees that is supported by public donations. They are affiliated with Duke University and had over 300,000 visitors to their gardens in 2006. The visitors are presently enjoying a beautiful display of waterlilies in the 40,000 gallon Virtue Peace Pond. They grow the hybrid Longwood Victoria, Euryale ferox, and about 30+ other varieties of waterlilies, as well as an array of marginal aquatics. They also maintain two other ponds that contain a broad range of waterlilies and marginal plants.

Their staff includes qualified, experienced waterlily growers, including Tamara Kilbane. Tamara has six years of experience working in the water gardening industry. She is also a freelance garden writer and photographer who has published articles promoting the New Waterlily Contest. John Wyman has been growing waterlilies for 12 years and works as a volunteer at Duke Gardens, where he started the waterlily program in 1997. He also works as a professional photographer. Both are qualified to grow the new hybrids for the IWGS, take quality photos, and support this IWGS effort. These professionals are also assisted by several Duke Gardens interns, the rest of the Duke Gardens Staff, and several volunteers. They are all serious about making this competition a success every year. This year is such an example.

They have proven they are a well-qualified and motivated team. The IWGS give their whole hearted thanks to Sarah P Duke Botanical Gardens and their staff for making the IWGS 2009 Waterlily Competition a success.