I'm growing a smaller Lotus, Charles Thomas, who will have
to be brought in for the winter. How have others done this?
I really am pleased with his growth, I would hate to lose
him! Thanks for your suggestions!!
Overwintering Lotus
Here in zone 6 many people put them into unheated garages for the winter. I would think that if you have a quite cool spot somewhere in your house that you could put it for the winter (still in its pot) it would do fine. Just take it back out as soon as the ice melts in the spring so it can start its spring growth in time. Good luck and maybe there will be someone here with zone 3 experience with lotus.
Thanks Ponditis! How cool does your garage get in the
winter? I will have to put your posting on next springs
calendar. I probably wouldn't have thought about getting
it out early enough!!
I don't have much idea of how cold their garages get but one guy just leaves it in his wheelbarrow for the winter. Our climate only gets to about -10 F outside so I would imagine it to be warmer than that in the garage by a bit. Ours stay in the pond for the winter under the ice and so far about two out of three have made it fine through the winter.
I would think that a crawl space or basement area that water wouldn't freeze HARD in would be ok for them. Or a cool closet. Just leave it in the pot though because the roots don't take kindly to being disturbed unless they are completely dormant.
Oooooooooh I'd always assumed that i wouldn't be able to overwinter any of the non hardy lilies.
I'm going to have a hard think about this as I'd love to grow a lotus!!
philomel, lotus is wayyyyy hardier than the non hardy lilies. Try a lotus you may just love it.
Right they're on my list!!
Thanks :)
Then it should store alright with my hardy water lilies-
thanks for the info. I wasn't sure, until now, that the
lotus was just as hardy.
Charles Thomas himself came and gave a very good talk to your club this past winter. He is the real deal. Neat guy and very knowledgeable. We are hoping to be able to have him again sometime. He was the owner of Lilipons Watergardens for many years which now belong to his kids.
I would have really enjoyed hearing him!
I only regret that more club members and the public didn't show up for his talk. I guess since the club didn't charge admission they didn't think it would be worth their time. We are going to try charging for things for a while and see what happens. He was great! And so good to answer all our questions and then we went to dinner with him and his lovely wife. Nice people.
Which lotuses are you growing?
sacred, lutea and a tulip plus a tabletop one that is really cute.
Would it be possible to plant a lotus in a bog and have it survive our zone 5/6 winter?
This message was edited Thursday, Aug 7th 1:03 PM