There’s a notion floating around that growing water lilies is a hobby best left to conservatory curators and nursery managers. Maybe it’s driven by the fact that Nymphaea are so alien to what the average home gardener is comfortable working with; aquatic plants are a far cry from the ever present office philodendron. Or maybe it’s because Claude Monet built an entire artistic movement on the exploration of their fragile elegance. “I’d have to refinance my house to dig that!” you think, looking at Giverny’s carefully-arranged water lily pond.

Relax. You won’t even need a trowel, much less a construction team with a backhoe.

As we slip into the late summer height of our water lily display, Christian Primeau–Manager of the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory–is ready to share a few key pointers with Nymphaea hopefuls. All you’ll need is a basic soil blend, some pea gravel, a large container, and a spot in or around your house with full sun exposure.
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New York might not strike many as a hibiscus state. Not at first. But set foot in the Home Gardening Center in August, and you could find yourself fooled (however briefly) into thinking you’ve landed in Hawaii, or Florida–spots where locals have an easy time landscaping their homes with these flowers. They show up in sunny yellows, punch bowl pinks, and whites punctuated with contrasting reds. In our trial beds, however, we’re spreading the word that hibiscus aren’t limited to places with palm trees; some species are just as suitable for your native plant garden here in the Empire State!

Like the water lilies in the Conservatory pools, species of hibiscus are divided into two groups: hardy and tropical. The latter, with its broad scope of color, does well outdoors in the beach states mentioned above; they’re not big fans of frigid temperatures. But here at the NYBG, we cultivate the former variety: hardy hibiscus, equipped to handle the weather patterns New Yorkers are used to, while boasting all the cocktail umbrella charm of their tropical counterparts. A few species, such as Hibiscus moscheutos, can even be found growing natively in New York’s wetlands.
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Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen