My DD just brought me a beautiful shiny dark blue ceramic pot, it's 13" high and 20" across, and I want to grow a water lily or lotus in it, but I need advice from all the DG experts! first, it has 2 small drain holes in the bottom, can I just fill them with waterproof caulk or is there a better way to plug them up? and now for the big question, what would you put in it? I basically want it all, something fragrant, an abundant bloomer of course, and maybe a variety that will have blooms for me in the evening, so I can enjoy it when I get home from work at night, if I get a morning bloomer I would only get to see the blooms on the weekends :O( the spot I'd like to keep it only gets about 3-4 hours of sun, but I could put it somewhere sunnier if I need to. and finally, a good source to buy from, I think maybe I can squish an iris in there and maybe a pretty floater or a mini cattail too. Any suggestions or advice?
Lily or lotus in a container
I have seen dwarf varieties of water lilies advertised somewhere that would work in a small "pond" like your dish. I don't know about plugging the holes though. Maybe corks and silicone seal combined?
Zany, great minds think alike, that's what I thought of too! the holes were easy, the hard part is going to be deciding what to put in it!
I am too new to ponding to know which plants are suitable for you but there must be dwarf varieties of a lot of things that would work well. I'll be watching your thread to see what our fellow ponders suggest!
Try this search link!
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=miniature+flowering+water+plants
You might also consider a mosquito fish or two to keep mosquitos from breeding there.
Wonder is right.You can even use common guppies or goldfish.
Or beta splendens.
You might want to consider a sunnier spot-most water lilies
need a min of 6 to 8 hours of direct sun. Helvola,
Joanne Pring, Rubra, Perry's White Wonder, Perry's Dwarf Red, Perry's Baby Red, Aurora, are all good miniature
water lilies. I'm not aware of any night blooming
tropicals that would have that small a leaf spread, but
Blue Beauty, a day bloomer, would fit the bill. The lotus
I am growing in that width of pot is Charles Thomas.
This message was edited Sunday, Aug 3rd 8:46 PM
Carena, you need a round pot for lotus. They will not grow in any other style. The roots and runners just keep going around in cirlcles. If they hit they side they stop.
it's round, so that won't be a problem, and I have a couple goldfish in it. There's a water garden nursery about fifteen miles away, I've never been there before, but I just found out they are having a water lily festival today, I'm going to go see what's happening there, and talk to them about my options. My water pot inspired me to dig a real pond last weekend, it's about 5 feet by 4 feet and 30 inches deep, so now I need to see about getting a liner anyway. maybe I'll come home with something wonderful!
Carena, did you buy out the store yet?
nope! I was really disappointed, the place was a mess, the plants they had were all beat up and ratty looking, most weren't marked and everything was way, way overpriced. the only thing I bought was a baby gunnera. I think I can probably do better buying my water lilies online.
LOL that sounds like the mess I found at the nursery here! I know I won't bother to go there again unless I see a huge sigh that says it is under new management!
Maybe I should get a job there and clean the place up! hmm, maybe they give employee discounts!
I got a super-duper deal yesterday at Wally world, two waterlillies and I only paid $7.00 for both of them! I got a pygmy pink and a pygmy red, I had to hunt through all the boxes to find two that looked okay, most of them were dead or close to it. I think I can nurse them to health before winter sets in.