Susan Davis, co-owner of Water's Edge, 847 Indiana St., is pictured in the garden of the business on Tuesday, July 23, 2019. Davis is the current president of the International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society, which will be hosting its August symposium in France.

Susan Davis considers it a fluke that 30 years ago she and Deb Spencer decided to grow a lotus tuber, which turned out to be the genesis for a flourishing business with international connections.

Davis and Spencer, the owners of Water’s Edge, the specialty gardening shop at 847 Indiana St., are headed to Le Temple-sur-Lot, France, in August for a meeting of the International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society. Davis currently serves as the organization’s president. The group is made up of commercial growers, hybridizers, university professionals and hobbyists from around the world who are gathering for the annual meeting to learn the latest about water plants.

Davis explained that Le Temple-sur-Lot was the home of Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, who bred water lilies back in the 1800s. French Impressionist painter Claude Monet partnered with Latour-Marliac to work on hybridizing the plants for his famous garden at Giverny. Monet’s oil paintings of water lilies in the garden would become world renowned.

Prior to the symposium, attendees will travel to Giverny. They will also tour the Latour-Marliac nursery with nearly 300 varieties of water lilies.

Despite the grandness of the gardens they’ll visit during the trip, Davis and Spencer are proof that all one needs to start a water garden is a tub of water and a lotus tuber.

“We started with one naked, ugly tuber,” Davis said. Their makeshift pond was a laundry basket lined with a garbage bag filled with dirt and water, and the lotus flower blossomed.

“That was the beginning of this insanity,” Davis said.

She warned that this form of gardening could become an addiction.

“People fall in love with the water,” she said. “It’s magic.”

Perry’s Giant Sunburst, a variety of giant lotus, blooms Tuesday, July 23, 2019, at Water’s Edge, 847 Indiana St.

Before growing that first tuber, Davis thought one had to be a botanist to grow water lilies and lotus plants. But she was wrong. In 1989 they began a part-time backyard business, and in 1993 they moved the business to its current location on the corner of Ninth and Indiana St., where a Taco Grande once stood.

Part of the Water’s Edge parking lot has been transformed into water gardens with about 26 ponds and tanks. Davis says they don’t have enough room for their inventory of plants.

“Anyone who loves their water garden doesn’t have enough room,” she said.

photo by: Kathy Hanks

Water’s Edge employee Jon Lelek waters plants on Tuesday, July 23, 2019, at the store.

Davis and Spencer have a long history with the International Waterlily & Water Gardening Society. In 1996 they attended their first symposium in France. Since then, they have attended the annual symposiums all over the U.S. as well as in Canada, Mexico, Thailand, China, England and Germany. In 2015 they hosted the symposium, bringing the international group to Lawrence.

About 95 members of the society will be gathering in Paris for a pre-symposium on Aug.21. Davis got involved in a leadership role by serving on the board and then moved up to the presidency, which is a volunteer position. According to the iwgs.org website, the organization puts out a quarterly publication, “Water Garden Journal,” and it is the official registrar for new water lily and lotus hybrids.

Along with learning about the latest in water gardening, Davis appreciates the time spent with like-minded people. Throughout the year she participates in monthly conference calls with the board and stays in touch through group emails, but getting together face to face is special.