RHS Journals
The Garden
July 2007
Wax work on waterlilies
Waterlilies are mostly admired where they grow, and often from a distance, but once they were grown for cutting. Phil Clayton revives an old technique to prepare these beautiful flowers for vase use.
Image: Tim Sandall
Open house
Red numbers in the text refer to the following hardy waterlilies. Material was selected from the Canal at RHS Garden Wisley.
1 Nymphaea ‘Maria’
2 N. ’Pink Sensation’
3 N. ’Lucida’
4 N. ‘Gladstoneana’
5 N. ‘James Brydon’
6 N. ‘Odorata Sulphurea Grandiflora’
7 N. ’Rose Magnolia’
8 N. ‘Escarboucle’
9 N. ‘Perry’s Pink’
10 N. ‘Marliacea Carnea’
Few flowers are more appealing than waterlily blooms. Part of their allure is the fact they are usually tantalisingly out of reach and must be viewed from afar, from the edge of a pool or river bank. Seen close up, however, they are utterly glorious. I once stayed in an old Egyptian hotel on the banks of the Nile where the flowers of a tropical blue waterlily (probably Nymphaea caerulea) and a larger white one (N. lotus) filled large vases, to fine effect. To my surprise their sweet scent reminded me of heliotrope.
The use of waterlilies as cut flowers is nothing new. The ancient ancestors of the flower arranger in the hotel would have used them in various rituals – dried blooms of N. caerulea were found on the mummy of Rameses II, who died more than 3,200 years ago.
More recently, at the end of the 19th century, hardy waterlilies were farmed for their blooms in several countries, on a limited scale. The one most widely grown for picking was white N. odorata and its variously coloured cultivars. It produces blooms larger than UK native N. alba; the flowers also have a delicious fragrance and last several days once cut.
Opening times
There is, however, a problem with cut blooms of waterlilies. The flowers of most hardy species and cultivars close naturally at night and continue to do so once picked – rather irritating if, say, they are to be used to decorate the dinner table. Victorian florists got around this by dribbling hot wax onto the base of the outer petals, keeping the blooms open. No doubt this is why these flowers went out of favour – cultivation, harvesting and the wax treatment made them expensive to buy.
There are still a few growers around – mostly in China, the Netherlands and Germany – but flowers today are sold unwaxed, and usually close at night. They are preserved by keeping them at about 15°c for as long as possible.
Recently there has been some renewal of interest in waterlilies as cut flowers; single blue blossoms are sometimes available in garden centres and florists, complete with bud vase, and they are sold occasionally at flower markets. Yet waterlilies are seldom used in arrangements. Talking to professional flower arranger Robbie Honey, he felt this might be due to their temperamental reputation. ‘I have never used them commercially, although I did pick some at home, using wax to keep them open, a technique I learned from my grandmother. I found it was not always successful.’
Giving it a try
If you already grow waterlilies, it seems a shame not to enjoy a few of these dazzling flowers inside, especially on special occasions. But just how well do they work, which ones last the best, and is wax treatment effective?
I could find no-one to answer these questions, so with a little help from staff at RHS Garden Wisley we were determined to give it a go. In the Canal are more than 50 cultivars of waterlily, so from these we chose 10 in a range of colour and size, from white ‘Gladstoneana’ 4 and pink ‘Marliacea Carnea’ 10 to rich red ‘James Brydon’ 5 and yellow ‘Maria’ 1.
We picked flowers in their first day of opening – older blooms tend to change colour and do not last as long. Most hardy waterlilies hold their blooms flat on the water surface, but a few (as with the tropicals) have blooms held on stems above the water. Being stronger, these may be better adapted against drying out, and makes them good for cutting. Yellow Nymphaea ‘Texas Dawn’ often holds its flowers above the water; of the others we tried, ‘Odorata Sulphurea Grandiflora’ 6 did so most noticeably.
Picking blooms is simple; we waded out into the water and cut stems with a knife. The time of day is said to affect vase performance: flowers are best picked in the cool of the morning and placed immediately in a bucket of fresh water to help prevent wilting (although we picked some flowers in the afternoon and many kept well). Some selections such as ’Perry’s Pink’ 9 seemed to wilt almost the moment they were picked, having particularly slender stems.
Preparing the blooms
As soon as we were back indoors, we dripped molten wax onto the back of the flowers of each cultivar, leaving some untreated for comparison. On most blooms the wax seemed to work, though on some the flowers ended up looking a little odd, because the outer petals still managed to shut a little by the end of the afternoon. The yellow-flowered hybrids proved best of all: even the unwaxed blooms remained open late into the afternoon – although by mid-evening they, too, began to close.
Once the flowers have been waxed they can be displayed in a vase. I put the larger, sturdier blooms with the longest stems towards the back of the vase; those that were a little more flaccid I placed at the front so that they hung over the edge. An alternative would be to wind florist’s wire around the stems for more support.
The easiest way to display waterlilies is to remove most of the stem and float the flowers in a bowl of water, perhaps adding a few leaves to help stabilise the blooms. This avoids problems with floppy stems and looks great on the dinner table. You will still need to add wax, however, to stop them from closing up.
What worked?
Nymphaea ‘Perry’s Pink’ did not perform well, as the blooms flopped and closed a little even with the wax treatment. The flowers were sweetly scented however, and they did reopen the following day. Large, elegant, white ‘Gladstoneana’ was another that disappointed, the flowers closing up all too quickly; it is also a cultivar best suited to a large pool.
By contrast, yellow-flowered ‘Maria’ and ‘Odorata Sulphurea Grandiflora’ did well, the waxed flowers remaining well open. Rich red ‘James Brydon’ also stayed nicely open. The other waterlilies we tried – ‘Escarboucle’ 8, ‘Lucida’ 3, ‘Rose Magnolia’ 7, ‘Pink Sensation’ 2 and ‘Marliacea Carnea’ – were all perfectly acceptable even if the petals of some tightened and looked a little uncomfortable as evening wore on. Most will grow well in an average-sized pond, so are suitable for home gardeners, although ‘Marliacea Carnea’ may need more space.
Arrangements of cut waterlilies can certainly be impressive. The flowers have a luminous quality to them; grouped together they ooze exotic luxury. And floating blooms in a bowl also work well in many situations.
In our test, the flowers lasted pretty well, at least two or three days. Waxing helped keep most of the flowers open but, unless you want them for evening decoration, is not at all necessary. There is something satisfying about watching them open in the morning and close at night. Regardless of how you treat them, once you enjoy waterlilies indoors, leaving them all to the frogs in your pond might seem a missed opportunity.
Phil Clayton is Features Development Editor for The Garden
Using wax to keep waterlily flowers open
Waterlily flowers will usually close up at night unless they are treated with wax.
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