Most Lotus Growers Seek Beauty First

Survey results provided by AboutTheLotus.com

About 53.5 percent of lotus growers (including hobbyists and businesses) reported beauty as the main reason they grow lotus, followed by 17.8 percent who grew for resale and profit (the exact number of growers that identified themselves as commercial lotus growers), 6.9 percent for water improvement, 5.9 percent each for religious uses and cut flowers, and 3 percent for a food source, according to AboutTheLotus.com’s first monthly “Nelumbo-holic Lotus Survey.”

Slightly more than half of the respondents were pond owners, with the others being commercial growers, hybridizers, garden center owners or something else. Overall, respondents preferred full-size (35.3 percent) and semi-dwarf (18.3 percent) lotus; were not particular about color (23.5 percent reported no preference, followed by 22.1 percent for red and 16.2 percent for white); and preferred single petal (44.4 percent) and multi-petal (peony) (30.2 percent) to other flower forms.