Donning hip-high waders to inspect his garden doesn't bother Perry Slocum one bit.
In fact, he welcomes the prospect. Here, nestled in the gentle curves of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Slocum has created his fifth water garden.This is no standard-issue backyard variety garden, even if it actually is in his back yard. He has created one of the largest commercial water garden nurseries in the world, 13 acres of ponds at one site. The water is laden with the bloom and fragrance of water lilies and lotus, each seemingly more dazzling than the one before - many of them hybrids of his own creation.
Slocum, now 81, was smitten by water lilies at 13 when his mother and his younger brother ordered three by mail from a California dealer. Their random order led to his career. He began water garden nurseries in four other locations, two in his native New York and two in Florida.
When his lifelong fascination with water plants began, the interest was so unusual that supplies such as the plastic sheets used to line artificial ponds were not available in the United States. Slocum imported them from England.
Today, water gardening is well enough established so that liners and the molded plastic receptacles used for smaller gardens are easily available. So are fountains, cascades and pumps, along with books, magazines and seminars.
Slocum's most recent enterprise began in 1980 with two ponds he put in for his own enjoyment but which grew into a retirement business. Though he has sold the business to his stepson, Ben Gibson, and Ben's wife, Debbie, Slocum still spends about six hours a day splashing his way through the ponds, hybridizing, propagating and nurturing the plants. The business still carries his name, operating as Perry's Water Gardens.
Word of the garden has gotten around the horticultural travel world, and now tour operators and individual gardeners have discovered him.
There is no charge to visit the nursery, although donation boxes are affixed to the fence. The nursery sells plants to the public and to dealers around the world.
The nursery tour wends by some water lilies sporting enormous pads. "A Longwood Gardens hybrid named Victoria produces lily pads up to 8 feet across," he explains. "I have some photos of myself from a few years ago, sitting on a pad where I estimate the weight on the pad to have been 185 pounds."
Just the day before, he says, he had photographed a 5-year-old girl perched on a pad in the middle of a lily pond.
Lily pads produce world-class thorns to protect themselves from would-be predators. To protect photogenic little girls and adults like Slocum while they say "Cheese," a large plywood disc is dropped on the pad first.
Slocum has many plants afloat, and has seen countless more over the years. Still, he has his favorites.
"My favorite is Perry's Fire Opal," he said. "It's been a moneymaker. But I do love the color. It's a beautiful rose and has 43 petals."
He says Perry's White Star makes a great cut flower. It's very white and, as the name indicates, is his own hybrid.
Names of other water lilies evoke wonderful images: Peaches and Cream, Yellow Sensation, Perry's Double White, Perry's Pink Heaven, Texas Dawn - they dance across the ponds in bursts of reds, yellows, pinks, apricots and virtual blacks.
He is exceedingly pleased with Perry's Darkest Red, a water lily that gets darker during its bloom period, contrary to most water lilies. Viewing it as a black water lily, he credits the bees with its creation.
He says Black Princess is the blackest water lily in existence. He has also developed a slightly lighter-colored lily he plans to name Almost Black.
In the lotus department, his favorite is Mrs. Perry D. Slocum, named for his late first wife. The pink and yellow bloom, developed in 1962, is a best seller. It forms very large double flowers, and requires an especially large container. Other enticing lotuses are Angel Wings, Carolina Queen and Perry's Super Star.
Naming the newest aquatic plants often becomes a family affair. Slocum may discuss a phrase or descriptive term that seems particularly apt, or he may decide to name the plant for a relative or friend.
Perry's Water Gardens also sells hardy water iris, cattails, arrowheads, various rushes, cardinal flower, great lobelia, iron weed, water poppies, umbrella palm, taro and papyrus.
Every July for 11 years, his place on Leatherman Gap Road has been the site of a Lotus Flower Festival. The lotuses look their blooming best, and he invites craftspeople, mountain musicians and the Cowee Valley Fire Department. The latter make and sell the barbecue as a fund-raiser.
To request a color catalog, call the nursery at 1-704-524-3264.