Jongkolnee Lives!

[Mike S.]

I've been watching and waiting, and now I can say for certain, my Jongkolnee made it through the winter!   

OK, it was a Florida winter. . .  But still, I had my doubts. Florida does have four seasons! They are:

It's Almost Summer.
It's Summer.
It's not Summer but it's Pretty Darned Hot.
February.

Any way, the one I potted up in a 2 1/2 gal. pot now has 5 new, small pads up to the surface. Further inspection revealed three new little plants sending their little pads up a few inches. Two of them are between the crown and the side of the pot, the third one is growing out part way up the tuber. One unusual thing about this plant is that while it can produce new tubers at the base of the plant, it also produces subcutaneous occult tubers (small tubers under the skin,) in the main tuber. These can be squeezed out and planted.

I hope I can find the other Jongkolnee I planted. I think it is probably one of the pots the raccoons overturned and may now be just a tuber on the bottom of the pond. Once it starts putting up new pads, I'll find it.

I guess this too is part of the fun. Every once in a while, little pads show up and a long-lost plant is found!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

[Marie Fisher]

Glad you found it.  We'll both have our jongs again this year looking like!!

Marie

[Mike S.]

Glad to hear that yours is doing well, too! Even though I'm pressed a bit (!) for space, I want to grow the little ones coming up, thinking that growing several generations will help them become more tolerant to temps colder than their origin.

Besides, I just LIKE them!

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL

[Mike S.]

Just a little update:

I now have seven little tubers growing in the 2 1/2 gallon pot, out near the rim, with the parent plant that is also putting up new pads. And it looks like there will be a few more. Once these have gotten a little bigger, they will be moved to their own, individual pots.

I did locate the second Jongkolnee, the tuber had been removed from it's pot by a raccoon, the pot left on it's side, spilling soil everywhere. The tuber had no new growth of the original plant, but again seven tubers had sprouted, those have been started in small cups, and I see quite a few more what looks like tubers still within the main tuber.

So, I should have a bumper crop of Jongkolnee waterlilies. Now, I have to give some thought as to what I'm going to DO with them. . .

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL