Greetings Ponders,
It's been a while since I posted but wanted to share a few pictures. I've been trying to get one of the Australian waterlilies to live for about four years.This summer it has blessed me with one bloom after another. It is soooo divine! lol
Loretta
Here is a close up shot. The hardest part was keep the koi from uprooting the waterlilies. This year I wrap a barrier of plastic coated chicken wire around the waterlily containers.
Loretta
Congratulations..that bloom is just beautiful!
Here's a photo of mine.
Here's another
Thanks, Bea!
Tropic, do you think my might actually be Nymphaea violacea? It is a little confusing to me. I bought it from Tricker's Nursery. I really love this waterlily and hopefully will have some corms to do a grouping of them in my pond next year. What part of Australia are you from? Have you been effected by the fires?
Loretta
Shadow-can you over-winter tropicals in your zone? Beautiful flower. I am a blue flower lover!
I find Nymphaea violacea a bit variable. Despite its name the colours range from purple and blue shades to pure white. Yours looks to be one but I'm not expert enough to give an absolute ID. There's another one here that has a colour a bit like fuschia red (that's the name they give on the colour chart). Apparently it's a Nymphaea violacea also. The largest growing ones I've seen are the pure whites - tall stems with large flower heads.
Mine are in my dam which dries out in the dry season, the bulbs spend the rest of the season in hard dry soil. When the wet season comes and the dam fills again the bulbs sprout but the leaves stay small on the bottom. It's only when the rains ease off and the water level stops fluctuating that the leaves grow up to the surface and flowering begins.
I live in the Top End (northern end of the Northern Territory). We have large areas of floodplains and where ever you go there's thousands of waterlilies in season. We do get fires here in the dry season but mostly they're deliberately lit as part of land management. The worst fires occur in the southern part of the country.
shadow
is yours hardy or do you bring it in? i love that color i am a blue freck as well,may i ask where you got it i want one for my pond,a true blue lily thxs for sharing its gorgeous
Thanks ya'll,
The tropical waterlily corms get put in baggies with sand and put in a cool dark place over the winter, they're pretty easy to overwinter. I got mine at Tricker''s, who calls it a Blue Gigantea
http://www.tricker.com/prod-p-bluegigantea
Tropic,
I have seen pictures of the waterlilies in Australia where there are masses of waterlilies. .Very beautiful
Are the white ones those that are suppose to stay open for 24 hours?
Loretta
I don't really know Loretta. Have never looked out for them at night. I'll ask and see if anyone else here knows. But otherwise, they won't be flowering for another few months at least.
I'll try and dig out some old photos of mass flowerings. I know I've got them but they'll have been on film originally then scanned, so the quality might not be so good.
This is one of my old slides, the scanning's not too good. The plants at the back are Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera. In the foreground are the white waterlilies.
A close up.
That is beautiful, but are'nt there crocodiles in there, too. lol We have ony one native lotus, Nelumbo lutea, which is considered a noxious weed in some places. The picture came from U of Virginia.
It's nice that nature takes care of your waterlilies and lotus. I used to have more tropicals and lotus but after I hit 50 years-old, the mind was willing but the body would not cooperate. HA!
Loretta
oops! forgot to post the picture! So much for the willing mind.
These water lily flowers are exquisite!!!
There are crocodiles, but it's a bit like road traffic. If you do the right thing and are careful on the road you're okay. If you play around on the road you're history.
Recreational fishermen consider the lotus a weed. Years back when feral buffalo over ran the place they trampled and destroyed a lot of lotus beds. There was a big eradication campaign, the buffalo were mostly wiped out and the lotus began to make a comeback. Now the fishermen complain.
A close up of our native lotus.
HA! HA! You just can never please everyone. I.
"It's Always Something"
Roseanna Roseannadana
I reckon you mean water buffalo, cause I don't think American buffalo swim that much but they are pretty tasty. lol The lotus is beautiful. Ya'll have such interesting and diverse flora and fauna down in your part of the world. If I was down that way I would have to be like a little old lady driving to church on Sunday. When I go in the pond to fertilize or groom the waterlilies, I make my husband stand by the pond and look out for water moccasins , which are about the most dangerous snake in this area. Of course, I have never seen one in my pond but I did see one that had been run over at the end of my road, which is close enough for me.
Loretta
Actually "American Buffalo" aren't buffalo, they're bison. Our buffalo are the Asian Water Buffalo and were imported from Indonesia (Dutch East Indies then) as beasts of burden in the first European colonies in the Northern Territory. When the colonies were abandoned so were the buffalo which due to the perfect conditions had a population explosion. That whole northern area had vast flood plains which the buffalo began to plough into mud flats.
Well Tropic, I stand corrected. you know how us Americans are so....umm... ethnocentric. I was just joking around with you anyway, I was aware you were referring to Water Buffalo from Southeast Asia.
We have had our own problems with introduced species, like pythons from Southeast Asia that are thriving in the Everglades of Florida, USA..
Loretta
People get small pets without checking how big they will grow. In Southern Australia they found an alligator wandering around. Obviously a pet that got too big and was just let go. And unfortunately it's not just pythons in the Everglades, there's plenty of other animals and plants as well.
Oh my what beautiful flowers. Shadowgirl just love that water lily. I only have a few hardy water lilies as my ponds are very small. I am looking forward to getting some tropical water lilies in the future thanks so much for the push in that direction. I had no idea that it would be so easy to overwinter them.
Tropicbreeze what a beautiful native water lotus. Just love your remark about playing on the road and the crocks. I was a volunteer scuba diver at an aquarium for several years and spent a good bit of time cleaning the shark display. When people asked me about getting in a tank with 28 sharks I use to compare it with being a good house guest. There are certain ways to behave and as long as you are a good house guest you won't have any trouble.
