The start of the Victoria season here in Belgium was not good. First, sprouting of the seeds went wrong. My own seeds didn't want to sprout and, from the seeds that I received from Kit and Ben Knotts, only two sprouted. But after the first leaves reached the surface of the water, they rotted.

In January and February, the pond was emptied and cleaned. The large bucket (1 metre² [3 feet²]) for the Victoria was filled with earth and old fertilizer from horses. During this process, the greenhouse was still unheated and the pond was dry. We had several nights which were very cold. It froze -3 to -5 °C (26 to 23 °F)!!!

One of the baby Victorias was planted in the bucket. This Victoria cruziana was the biggest we ever had since we started growing them seven years ago. Its leaves had a diameter of 210 cm (indeed more than two metres - 6.5 feet!!) and a rim of 23 cm (9") high!! The first of its flowers stayed open day and night, and all the flowers have given a lot of seeds.

We have always thought that Victoria seeds cannot withstand dryness and freezing temperatures, but these did!!