New Lotus Bloom

First time to have a lotus. I purchased it in May off of Ebay. I was very pleased when it bloomed. I have 2 more blooms coming up right behind it. Just wanted to share in my excitement.

OH, just gorgeous! I bought kwan basu this year, but after 2 racoon encounters, I'll be content to anticipate a bloom next year. thanks for posting, it's just wonderful. Looks almost too perfect to be real! How exciting!

Thank you AuntB - we patiently watched each day, hoping we wouldn't be at work when it opened. Thank goodness we had a holiday this week. My water lilies didn't do a thing this year. After this, I may just give up on them.
Bonnie

Hey, I'm Bonnie, too. I'm trying a couple mini lilies this year, no blooms, I'll give them another year IF they make it over winter.. Maybe you could try a different kind.. they are so pretty, too.

Wow, it is lovely! Do you know the name?

I know if I don't divide, repot and feed my lilies and lotus they make a poor showing. I think the lotus are more forgiving on the repotting. It's about every 2 years for my lilies. I usually start feeding mine in the middle of March in my zone. I stop feeding sometime in August.

Oh my gosh Deb - yours are absolutely beautiful. Even your water hyacinths are blooming. I have huge ones, but they never bloom. They grow extremely tall for some reason. Think my ph is off. As far as the name of my lotus - before I posted, I tried to go back on my ebay acct and find out the name of it, but couldn't find it. I do believe it starts with a N if that helps (I doubt it). I guess since I bought it so long ago, my history has dropped. I know the name of the person that I got it from if you are interested in me finding out, I can try to send her and email. After rec'g it, I was extremely happy with the instructions and packaging that I had asked her if they had a company name, so I could post them in the Garden Watchdog, but they only traded on ebay. I have friends that would love a piece of it, but I don't know how to divide it. After what you are saying above - sounds like I will need to find out next year for sure how to seperate it.
Bonnie

Well, I cheated on the water hyacinths. I had a big patio pond with just some soil and water hyacinths in it. I picked some that were blooming to add to this pond for a pond tour that took place that day.

They can get a bit pot bound after three to five years. This is a photo of one I turned upside down and am getting ready to divide. I've divided them in the fall and stored them over winter. (That's a whole other story) Anyway, I think the best time is usually just before spring really starts which is about the mid of March to the end of March where I am. Make sure to wear clothes you don't care about and I'd suggest rubber gloves or disposable gloves. It's kind of a stinky process, too. I think I'd describe the odor as primordial. Be prepared to spend some time when you do it. The tubers are brittle and easily break if you don't handle them in a gentle fashion.

Since this picture, I've moved to using a lower shallower pot for lotus.

Deb - do you have a soil base in this pot or is this just a big clump of tubers ? And is this water lilies or lotus ? Man, that is confusing me already. Don't know if I'd know where to start separating a tub of roots like that. When you talk about them being brittle, how will I know what is good and what isn't. I should have taken a pix of what mine looked like when I got it in so I'd know what the end results should be like. I sure hope I don't ruin it.
Also, do you still store yours or winter in your pond ? I don't know your zone, so don't know what your winters are like.
Thanks so much for any help. I am so new at this, but am loving it. Alot of work, but the rewards are far more greater than the pain !

That is a pot of lotus tubers. This is a two year old pot of lilies.

The pot I had them in is pretty common to grow water lilies. The water lilies are always breaking the pots. I switched to something else I'll show in the next post.

Okay, this is a real rubbery livestock dish these water lilies are planted in.
Here they don't break the dish they just grow up and out. The dish is a little heavier then the regular pot; however, I can use it again and I don't feel like I'm throwing money out the window.

I use topsoil with maybe a little compost or manure on the bottom of the pot.
After the plant is in place I put in some aquatic fertilizer tabs around the plant.
Sometimes, I use my own soil if I know it hasn't been exposed to chemicals that might come in contact with the fish in the pond. I bought a bag of something labeled topsoil this year only to find out they had added those little white things you find in potting soil ARGH! The white things float and get caught up in your filter, etc.