The world's first blue hardy water lily has been unveiled - the water garden equivalent to the Holy Grail

Pairat Songpanich from Thailand, an avid lily breader and member of the International Water Garden Society has submitted a paper to the Water Gardener's international online journal describing the his efforts in producing the first hardy blue water lily ever known. He describes how he has long sought what great lily hybridizers of the past had endaevoured to acheive and despite the sum of all their other great creations had always been frustrated at never having produced a hardy blue lily. He then almost tells us how he managed to do it! The plant was obtained from a cross between a Nymphaea and a sub genus of the waterlily family Brachyceras, which produced very few seeds that would germinate and only one that was a purple shade of blue. The hybridization was genetically confirmed by Dr. Vipa Hongtakul of Thailand. For more information and pictures of the plant, nip over to http://www.watergardenersinternational.org/journal/3-2/cover.html. It is the only place you will get to see a picture of the plant.