Hardy Water Lily, Waterlily 'Lily Pons'

I haven't grown this in person, but as a Pond Tech at Lilypons Water Gardens, I think I can speak a small volume for this cultivar.
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The Lily Pons is currently named for the opera star, around the turn of the century, but used to be "Perry's Double Pink." Charles Thomas, Lilypons president at the time, took a liking to it asked a favor of Perry's Water Gardens to get the name changed, and it's stuck.

It is a BIG blossom -- it easily hits 7" in the open ponds every summer -- but it is an infrequent bloomer. It can be expected to have a petal count over 100, and all those petals take an awful lot of work to make, so I wouldn't expect more than one blossom at a time on any one plant, especially the first year. If you give it extra space (at least a 5' round area for it to expand into) and extra fertilizer, and put it in a really big pot or in an open-bottom pond, you will both see and smell this one from a fair distance. If you can grow it, DO. It is worth the effort to have this aquatic peony in your pond.

This is a show stopper in any pond. Steady bloomer of clear pink flowers with almost 100 petals on every bloom!!Slightly fragrant.