After I posted the relieving conclusion of the ‘Ray Davies’ saga, commenter Gene mentioned that another pond-dweller, this time a lotus, shared its name with yet another rock star–Scottish singer Maggie Bell. For those who didn’t catch the exchange, I dove in and found what I could of Nelumbo ‘Maggie Bell Slocum’, dubbed not for a rocker, but someone far more horticultural.

‘Maggie Bell Slocum’ was so named for the second wife of prolific water lily and lotus hybridizer Perry D. Slocum, a New Yorker and a long-lived icon in the pond plant world. This one still has stage presence, though, with or without the rock pedigree.

Nelumbo ‘Maggie Belle Slocum’ — Photo by Ivo M. Vermeulen

News that a rock star is living it up in our Hardy Water Lily Pool had some of us…well, confused. I pictured the lead singer of The Kinks doing the backstroke between the pads of the Nymphaea–not exactly Garden-approved behavior, superstar or not. But the revelation that this was a water lily named ‘Ray Davies’ only brought up more questions.

We answered those, too. In the meantime, Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’ played coy with its color. My visit to the pool toward the end of last week turned up a circle of foliage sans flowers, with no sign of a show. Then came Ivo.

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Is there a rock star hiding in our Water Lily Pool?

What does the British Invasion of the ’60s have to do with the NYBG‘s Water Lily Pool? Well, some of our visitors think there might be a connection there, but the validity of the link has proven elusive. So, in looking at the water lilies now growing in the outdoor pond–many of them breeds championed by Monet at Giverny–I’m here to set the record straight. Come rock, roll, or high water.

If you spend a few minutes perusing the signage around the water lilies in our pool, you’ll doubtless run into the culprit at the center of the stir. Many of the cultivar names in the collection lean toward Latinized or Asian-inspired nomenclature, but not this one. Even with its flowers yet to bloom, there’s more than one visitor to Monet’s Garden who’s thrown a double take at Nymphaea ‘Ray Davies’.
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