He is the developer of the best fertilizer mix on the market for growing outstanding waterlilies. Landon 7803 is produced and marketed by PONDTABBS.
He is known as the Indiana Jones of the waterlily world as he has gone out and braved snakes, alligators and other nasty creatures in the search of new or sometimes very old waterlilies.
On numerous occasions he has been called upon to help Universities, Botanical Gardens including Longwood and Missouri Botannical to help them acquire materials necessary for their displays. When someone says “that waterlily is extinct or no longer around” they might want to check with Ken as many times he is able to say,”Oh, I have that one.”
He helped the country of Egypt reacquire the Nymphaea caerulea the Lily of the Nile. This was their sacred plant and thought to be extinct. He was able to supply enough seed for them to reintroduce it to the Nile River region.
He has built this amazing collection that is on display in San Angelo almost by himself. He built the walkways, the fences and done almost everything needed to revitalize what was once an eyesore pool that drew less than savory characters to the park. It is now a wonderful world class destination for waterlily enthusiasts from the world over.
He is the creator of the Incomparable Nymphaea ‘Blue Cloud’.
He is the creator of the Official Texas State Waterlily, Nymphaea ‘Texas Dawn’.
The IWC is the Number One Tourist Destination for the City of San Angelo, Texas.
He was instrumental in working with Senator Glenn Hegar, State Representative Drew Darby and Rolf Nelson to eliminate the ill conceived Texas White List Legislation.
Ken received national recognition from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Conservation Committee, for outstanding achievement in Environmental Awareness with the National DAR.
The IWC was recognized in the New York Times with an article titled – For Waterlilies, an Odd Refuge in Texas.
The IWC was recognized in the Washington Post with an article titled – What makes San Angelo, Tex., distinctive.
Ken is recognized in the new issue of Lily & Fin magazine March/April 2015.
The International Waterlily Collection was featured in the August/September 2008 Issue of Birds & Blooms©.
Click on the picture below to see a 2 Mb pdf of the article. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the file.
Special thanks go out to Diane C. Lyell and William Lyell the writers of the article. Photos taken by Diane C. Lyell. Permission to post by Stacy Tornio the Editor of Birds & Blooms. Copyright by Diane C. Lyell©
