I gave up on the tropicals the first year-not a long enough hot season for me to enjoy anything. I have had multiple hardy but the koi flip the basket over . . . I have had them in clay but stopped that cause it messes up the pond and the bottom drain. Now I just cover with large rocks. Fish push the whole pot over. And my dog. . . he eats lotus' . . . crazy animals. I will have to build out a shelf for the lilys (with barb wire) . . .
My water lily just won't bloom
I would be happy to trade hardy water lilies with other ponders. I have an over abundance of Mme. W. Gonnere, they are blooming now and are a beautiful pink.
mittsy...what are you looking for? I'd love one of your lilies...
Mary, we winter in CB, would be happy to bring you a big one in October when we return. You could drive due east until you hit ocean, we are between ocean and Banana river. I could send you a smaller one now if you want. I am looking for Sempervivens to make a Living Wreath. I do have the common hens and chicks but would love some cobweb house leeks.
Mittsy
Such beautiful lilies! I bought a lily from Lowe's last year and it did nothing. Never again. A friend gave me a hardy lily last year and it bloomed all last summer. Today, I had 5 blooms. This is the most at one time. I hope to get a pic of it in the morning. So glad the spike fertilizer question came up. I have never removed the plastic at the top. Maybe this is why I don't have the foliage and blooms others seem to have. I am going the check the package for instructions. Mine are in full sun. Can someone suggest the best place to purchase the tropical lilies and if it is possible for me to overwinter them indoors? It would be great to have a night bloomer. I love the lotus but they are so expensive here. They usually run around $80.00. I would love to try the seed. I am in zone 6.
Phyllis- please don't spend $80.00 on a lotus. Go to Texas Water Lillies and pre order your lotus. Better yet call them and discuss your weather and zone and they can make recommendations. They also have plants not on the website -just ask them -they're are a great couple. I live in the Chicago area and they recommended plants that will get going quickly in my short summer season. I kept buying "pretty plants" without results cause my season tends to be too short. Now I am doing better with their recommendations. With your $80.00 you can buy a lot from TWL . . . . :) Isn't that what we all want? lol!
I have some extras in a 5 gallon bucket right now. We divided some for my nephew and had some extras so rather than put them back in the pond, we put them in the bucket. I believe the creamy yellow one is Carnea. The other is pink. Mme. W. Gonnere or Hollandia, not sure as it isn't blooming right now.
MotherMole, thanks for the great info. I have been ordering from TWL several years now with mixed results. Never occurred to me to call them and discuss what would work best in my zone - short and cold. I will do so before ordering for next. year.
Mary
mothermole
Thanks so much for the information. I will definately keep this info and call them. I will probably wait till spring to buy the Lotus since I would have to overwinter them inside. I understand some people do this. When is the best time to order Lotus for the next spring from TWL? I like the fact that I can call and discuss my planting zone, pond conditions etc. Have you bought tropical lilies from them?
Mittsy
Is that a tropical night blooming lily? I worked today and couldn't get a pic of my hardy lilies. It looks like I will have 6 blooming tomorrow! I am so excited to see that many blooms. If they are in bloom before I leave tomorrow, I will post a pic of them.
When you all talk about lotus. Are they the ones that grow wild here in ponds? Bloom is about 6 or 8 inches above water. After blooming they get a very hard pod on them full of very hard seeds.
Florists use them often in arrangements. Just wondering cause I'm close enough to a pond that is loaded with them and thought about wading in and yanking a few out to put in my ponds. These are all yellow blooms. All around the edge of a pond in the middle of town. Guess I would have to ask permission to get a few first. Don't care to make the newspapers. LOL
Bonnie
Hi.
Bonnie, lotus have circular leaves held high above the water level. Lilies' leaves float on the water's surface, are round and have a notch cut into them. Lotus produce beautiful short-lived blooms (2 or 3 days at most) and then, a seed pod forms. That's what florists use in their arrangements. It is said that lotus seeds will remain viable for decades. Mine are in full sun and warm water. I give them fertilizer pellets once a month. They are known to grow wild in Florida ponds.
If anyone here is willing to exchange excess water lilies for proven lotus seeds, please send me D-mail.
Bonnie, if you do go dig out some lotus, be sure to be very careful when digging the rhizomes. Although the rhizome themselves are not all that fragile, the growing tips are much more delicate.
Best of luck with all that.
Sylvain.
All my water lilies are hardy and over winter in the pond. Pond depth in the middle is 3.5'. I just push all the container to the middle in October. It freezes over but doesn't have any effect on the plants or the fish, they just go dormant.
Mittsy, don't you provide air holes for the fish? I do the same as you but with the pond is frozen over for several months so I provide air holes to let the gasses out.
My pond is also 3.5 feet deep also. When the ice freezed over, I used a pot of boiling water to melt it in one area. Last year was the first winter for my pond so I was worried about the fish and lilies but they did very well. I love gardening but ponds and water plants are new to me. I joined DG and have learned so much. I appreciate all the advice everyone has given me.
Can someone tell me why my foliage isn't as green as others pics I have seen? It has rained everyday for 3 straight weeks. The pond is in full sun. Today is suppose to get to 95 and no rain.
Also, do you know the name of my lilies?
Thanks
Phyllis - the lily pads will yellow as they age. You can either clean them out of your pond with your fall clean up or get them now as they will sink and rot at the bottom of your pond. Oberon is correct - you need a pond heater in the winter to allow a gas exchange. If you don't have a hole for the gas exchange,it can kill your fish.
We have also had little sun and lots of rain and my lily pads are small and wimpy. I put in some new fertilizer pills even though I also have the all summer spikes in them. I think we just need warmer weather and more sun. I do see a couple of lily buds down there. Now a race to see them bloom or freeze first. lol
The first five years we ran an air stone to keep the pond surface from totally freezing over. One winter the pump died and we didn't replace it. The pond totally froze over. In the spring everything was fine, the fish survived and so did all the plants. Now we just take the filters and pumps out and let nature run it's course. It's been ok for 25 plus years.
We remove our pump in winter and plug in a small "floating-rock" heater. It doesn't heat the water. It just creates a hole in the ice to let the gases escape. It has an automatic thermostat that kicks on when the water temperature is below 35 degrees. We've never lost a water lily or fish because of ice. Our pond is only 3 ft. deep in the center.
Mittsy, how long do you estimate your pond is continually under ice?
3-4 months.
I asked DH how big the pnd was and he said 15' to 16' across, it's sort of round.
These photos were taken with a disposable camera so please forgive the poor quality.
Mittsy
How many fish do you have? The guy down the street from me had his pond heater die during the winter and he did not know it. He lost all of his fish - he also had a large fish load.
Your pond is nice - I'd love to see more photos.
It is indeed nice. Love the iris around the edges. So it has a bog area on the inside of the path then more iris in soil on the outer edge? It is amazing that your fish can survive. Yeah, that's the next question Carolyn. How many fish share the oxygen over the winter.
Oh, and how many to produce gases...
This message was edited Jul 26, 2012 2:40 PM
I will certainly look into the floating rock heater. Thanks for the info. I think of my fish like babies lol. I couldn't stand the thought of losing them. I only have 9 at the moment. We take our pump and filtration system out in the winter. Our whole pond is probably closer to 4' deep. Last year we only had the pond freeze over a few days. It was a very mild winter though.
Mittsy, your pond is beautiful.
Phyllis
I take out my pump and filtration systems for the winter as well. They spend the winter in my cellar and I have 2 heaters that I use. Last winter was barely a winter for us too - not that I am complaining about that. Better safe than sorry I think.
Carolyn
The fish population started with 25 feeder fish and gradually grew over the years to 75 plus, It's hard to get an accurate count when they are swimming. We do have raccoons and Great Blue Herons. So they disappear from time to time. At last count I got up to 35 before it became too confusing. The biggest fish at the moment are 7"- 8". There are lots of dark ones which I don't count as they blend in with the rubber liner. I'll try to get some more pictures of the pond today. I really need to thin out the water lilies but it is such a chore.
mittsy, your pond is soo beautiful.OMG you are into everything. I want yout energy.
Started on this site as we have a large pond here in NJ where I am now as you know. If you have any water lillies to trade for fabric or perhaps some indoor plants i am hoping... Helene
Helene
Tell us about your pond. Do you have any pictures? I wish I had Mittsy's energy as well?
Helene, I'd be happy to send you a couple of water lilies, I have a pink and a creamy yellow (hardy waterlilies) in a bucket right now. You can have them for postage. I'll take a few pictures.
Sorry, no open blooms as it is cloudy and lightly raining. I'll have to wait until it clears up.
OHHH Mittsy you are the best. ll take pix of our pond next week. Getting the CD to install the camera on the lap top. (forgot mine in FL) then i'll be able to post pictures.
gladly pay for the bulbs. Turning to water gardening as the deer eat everything inlcuding house plants that are against one wall outside. We have over 5 acres here too $$$$ to fence in. Hostas, SalomonSeal other stuff all gone DD planted a lot of annuals, all gone, so sad.
so this is our pond. and trickling water ways (here I'd like to plant some Japanese primulas and LA iris)
these are housplants DD puts outside. Deerdamage on the Rexbegonia, These can be propagated from leave.
i am posting here just because I talked about it.
Beautiful Helene. Is your pond in OH or Fl? It looks like a natural pond - is it?
Love your houseplants too.
Same question and do you have fish in your pond? Those trees remind me of where I'm from in Conn.
Bonnie
Helene is spending hurricane season with her daughter in NJ.
Waterlily Carnea
yes, just as mittsy says, pond is in NJ. yes all natural spring fed. Connie just like CT. I used to have a summer house on Candlewood lake CT. lived in NYC and then queens NY when we had he summer house. Yes we have fish/ frogs and other stuff. No koi natural replenished fish.
those houseplants are dessert for the deer here. She also has about 15 A violets inside. She is just like her Mama. The begonia that was eaten by deer can be grown from leave.
I finally have one brave little lily bud surfacing. Thanks to three days of sun and warmth after a week or so of steady rain. Course when I got up this morning it was raining again. Figures. Our state fair starts this week.
kjuddy,
Did you ever get your shade issue settled? Are you getting any water lillys to bloom now?
BTW, never growing any I would like to know how long once you plant them in a pond do they normally take to bloom?
Bonnie