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Special People

Leeann Connelly

Are you a fan of the many petaloid style of waterlilies sometimes referred to as Anemone type? These all started with George Pring's fabulous N. Midnight back in 1941. The gauntlet of furthering this beautiful type of waterlily was later taken up and excelled at by Leeann Connelly with her beautiful N. Joseph Baynard Shearouse. She also produced N. Blue Anemone. These lilies were at the forefront at that time. Many of the most popular and even most sought after lilies today owe their pedigree to Leeann's work. Ken has several that will be shown in the pools next year. But this is not all, as you can see from the list below her accomplishments in creating new hybrids are many.

The following is a list of her named and released hybrids...

N. Blue Anemone

N. Casey Lee Slocum

N. Gene Joyner

N. Helen Nash

N. Joseph Baynard Shearouse

N. Leeann Connelly

N. Nikole

N. Osceola syn. N. Paul Hoffman

N. Pride of Palm Beach

N. Rob Walters

N. Stormy Weather

Here is some more biographical information from Leeann herself.

Leeann Connelly was born in Palm Beach, Florida.
She grew up and played in the local swamps west of town.
She founded Tropical Pond & Garden in 1987, and eventually became known as one of the leading authorities on aquatic plants in the country.
She was a contributing editor and featured columnist for Water Gardening Magazine.
In 1998 she received international recognition and was awarded the Banksian medal from the Royal Horticultural Society of London, England for one of her tropical day bloomers "Helen Nash".
Through the years, Leeann has developed many new tropical and hardy water lilies
It is widely accepted that she was the first to develop the now popular double anemone form of the tropical day blooming water lily. This was from some crosses she did involving N. colorata, N. Midnight and N. ampla.
Many of today’s modern double hybrids come to us through this work.
Other works from Connelly include a series of hybrid water iris called "fallen heroes". Each iris in this series is named for a police officer killed in the line of duty.
She hybridized the following water cannas ( Paton, Cora, Stewart Shuck, and Freckle Face)
She created a new water hibiscus called "summer snow".
Leeann has branched out of the realm of water gardening and has also developed a line of dwarf hollyhocks called "the dessert series". All the hollyhocks in this series are dwarf and do not need to be staked. There is Cherries Jubilee - a deep red, Lemon Sorbet - a greenish yellow, and Coconut Cream Pies - a pure white.
Connelly has also developed about 9 new land cannas included a breakthrough form of semi double.
Many of Connelly's work are now being mass produced in tissue culture.
Currently Leeann is working with annuals such as petunias and salvias.
She also runs and is the sole support of the Loxahatchee Wildlife Rescue Center, a rehabilitation center for injured and orphaned native wildlife.

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