Need water lily suggestions

Need a yellow water lily, hardy for zone 6, will bloom in shade, for my fathers pond. Anyone have suggestion for something extra nice. My parents are in their 70's and have a small pond this will be the only waterlily in it so I'd like something showy.

Are we talking shade shade? Any hardy waterlily will be hardy in that zone, so not to confuse you.....there are tropical waterlilies and hardy waterlilies and they are generally always labeled as such. Waterlilies as a rule need full sun to flower well, especially so in that zone. The less sun, the less flowers, no sun, no flowers. I know this doesn't help you much, sorry :-( but it would be a fruitless and frustrating endeavor to grow waterlilies in shade. And they do require care, unless this is a natural pond, so maybe it's just as well. Waterlilies need repotting and fertilizer, as do all pond plants.

My Dad put in the pond several years ago, it's just as you come into the front of their house right by the front walk. It's a small preformed pond and he did a beautiful job the plants that are in it do well and it can be seen by the side walk. They have the type neighborhood where people walk by and it really gets admired. There is a Dogwood tree just to the side and some what shading the pond. Although it does get some sun during certain parts of the day, mostly morning sun. It does not get a lot and pretty much not direct overhead sun. They had a yellow waterlily several years ago that did overwinter and did bloom. Although it didn't bloom heavily. It did reasonably well for 2 years, but they never re potted or fertilized it. The third year they lost it. My Dad would really like to replace it but doesn't remember what it was.

He should be able to get just about any hardy lily and have it do as well for him. Without knowing which one he had it would be difficult to get the same one, there are just so many. Chromatella is one of the more common yellows, it's also not one of the bigger ones (still gets good sized though), but does flower well. I do believe a red might do better for him but also might require more care (a lot of fertilizer) There are pygmy hardy waterlilies that might work great for him, they would do better in smaller pots making them easier to repot and take care of and he should be able to keep at least 2 maybe 3 in there (different colors :-) but the flowers would be smaller :-(

Hope that was more helpful Holly!

Thank you, I have 2 small ponds myself but I don't have waterlilys, so I don't know very much about them. The pygmy's sound interesting. He found if he moved his plant more to one side it got just enought sun to bloom better. Holly

2 ponds and no waterlilies :-( that's a shame! They're such wonderful plants and there's such a variety to choose from in the hardies, no blues and purples mind you but they're working on it lol I think the pygmy's have a lot of character myself, have only grown one myself, but it's a joy to see.

Here are a couple of pictures of my 2 small ponds. You'll see why I don't have waterlilies yet. We are planning a large pond. It would have been put in years ago but the area where we are placing it started to sink and we needed to wait until it stopped, before we could go ahead with the project. Apparently sometime before I bought this property (32 years ago), they buried trees on the property. The trees started to rot over the years and the ground start to sink. We did a few test holes to check out the problem, the trees are done rotting now and we haven't had anymore sinkage in 3 years. We think it's safe to go ahead with the big pond now and won't need to do near as much digging. The sinkhole is 3ft deep in the one place. These little ponds were to hold us over till we could start the big one. Do you get your Waterlilies from a local nursery or do you order them from catalogs?

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/682585/

LOL I remember looking at your pics and not see much water :-) Buried trees? Was that something commonly done? Just sounds weird. So glad they're done rotting so you can stuff with the land finally, that must've been frustrating. Although I will say I'm terribly jealous of all your space, you've done a wonderful with your gardens, it all looks so peacful and lovely.

It's been a while since I've bought lilies, all that is a little neglected here right now as we focus on everything else, but I have bought some locally, order some online, received some of my favorites from friends who live here, and made trades. Looks like you're a seasoned gardener and have perennials to trade, come spring I have no doubt you'll be able to find waterlilies thru trades. You might also look at regional forums for local ponders that have extras after repotting and just want you to come get them. Tons of ways to get lilies.

Thank you, I just love sitting on my patio on summer mornings. Watching the birds come and go from the feeders and birdbath. Listening to their calls. It really is peaceful. We live in a rural area.(guess you noticed the fawn) Our property is part of a development of sorts. The person who originally did the development wasn’t very ethical and did things poorly. He didn’t build houses just cleared the land, surveyed, put in the septic and wells. My husband thinks that he used a backhoe to remove soil from the property and then pushed some of the trees, branches and stumps into the hole and covered it over then used the dirt in another area. Luckily it wasn’t a big problem for us. Some of our neighbors have had boundary issues and 2 homes had a shared well that became a very big issue. As I said we have lived here 32 years and it has always been a wonderful spot for us. Woods behind our house, nearby creek and the old farm next door. Gave my children a wonderful area to explore. We have neighbors but with plenty of privacy and room. The farm has become a housing development (only 18 homes on large properties) in the last few years but the hedgerow blocks the view of that in the summer.

Sounds wonderful Holly, can't wait to see pics from when you put in the large pond :-) What a site that'll be.