Nymphaea ‘Perry’s Baby Red’ – Dwarf Water Lily

Description

If we had to pick one water lily to grow in a water bowl it would be ‘Perry’s Baby Red.’ It’s taken up permanent residence in one of the two half-whiskey barrels we have out for display in the nursery sales area. It flowers well, has great form and color, doesn’t burn in intense sun – what’s not to like? Nothing. To us it’s clearly related to ‘Black Princess.’ According to Perry Slocum though, it’s parentage is ‘Alba Plenissima’ x ‘Atropurpurea’ while ‘Black Princess’ is ‘Perry’s Fire Opal’ x ‘Pamela.’ ‘Pamela’ though is a tropical lily – we know that Perry was trying to hybridize tropical and hardy lilies – most think he did not succeed, despite his claim about the parentage of ‘Black Princess.’ Instead I’ll go with ‘Black Princess’ being a sibling of ‘Perry’s Baby Red.’ They have similar flower farm and color – ‘Black Princess’ is simply a shade or two or three darker. ‘Perry’s Baby Red’ was introduced in 1989. ‘Black Princess’ followed shortly thereafter in 1995.