This is our first lotus flower to bloom, and we just had to share it with all of you pond lovers. It is called President.
Our Very First Lotus Bloom!
Here is a second bud starting out. It will be a week or so before it blooms.
Here is a picture of its setting in the water garden.
Beautiful! What a striking pink.
Lovely, lovely color. How old is the plant and who did you purchase it from?
How do you have it potted? By that I mean is it in a deep pot or a shallow pot with a few inches of soil.
Do you use fertilizer? If so, what brand and how often.
lily13,
What a great secluded and serene setting your pond is! Absolutely beautiful!
Darlindeb,
We bought the plant around the end of March from the Hill Country Water Gardens in Cedar Park, Texas (just north of Austin). They potted it up in a rather shallow pot with just a few inches of soil. I have fertilized it twice with Highland Rim Aquatic Plant Fertilizer pellets.
Tetleytuna,
Originally, I wanted a paler pink, but have changed my mind after seeing this gorgeous bloom. I am impressed with how bright it is without looking gaudy. They are such elegant flowers.
MerryMary,
Thank you. We are pleased beyond words, with the entire pond. We built it as a home for our turtle, but have found that it is an incredibly soothing place for us as well. I encourage everyone to put in their own pond. There is nothing that you can spend so little money on, from which you can reap so much personal reward for, than a pond. I am a total convert, and pond addict now.
Sheral
Here is what this space looked like right after we moved in, nearly two years ago. The area was just lava rock and dead weeds. Hideous!
Sorry about the quality of the picture. This is the only picture that I could find of that useless, wasted space in our back yard. Now it is the best part of the entire property.
That's a lucky turtle.
Wow! What a gorgeous water garden! Is the pool still there, or did you use the pool for the water garden? I'm just having trouble assimilating the two photos... but it is very, very beautiful!
Brenda
Here is more of the original picture. The furthest corner of the yard is in shadow, so it had to be cropped and lightened to see anything at all.
Here is a picture of the area taken last week before I added the low stone wall.
I have actually thought about turning the swimming pool or spa into another pond for growing lotus. However, we have gotten very used to having the pool, and use it nearly every day when the weather is hot (which is a lot of the time here in Texas). We use the spa at night during cool weather as well.
Sheral
Awesome! What you have done with your home is fantastic! I bet the previous owners could never have imagined what a beautiful retreat it could be! We have our pool as well as our pond, and I wouldn't give up either (hot here in AZ too!). Congratulations on a job well done!
Brenda
For all of those who have both a swimming pool and a water garden has anyone figured out a way to keep the frogs out of the swimming pool?
Darlindeb,
We have 5 (yes, five) small dogs. My husband bought an item at one of the online pet stores called a Scamper Ramp. They are sold in two sizes, and are intended to give a surface that an animal can use to climb out of the pool. Since he installed it, we have only found one tiny dead frog in the pool.
P.S. When Radar (our blind turtle) was trying to find a place to lay her eggs, she would enter and wonder around in the pool. She found the Scamper Ramp and used it to bask in the sun!
Thank you! Before the Scamper Ramp did you find lots of dead frogs in your skimmer?
Here is one of my lotus from this season. I think this one is called 'Strawberry Blonde'
it fades from this pink to more yellow with a pink blush on the rims of the petals.
I got it at Perennials Etc. in Roger, Arkansas years ago. It has been a good strong plant.
It is planted in a lotus tub that they use to sell at one of the places like Home Depot.
They got fertilized alot last year with aquatic tabs (forgot the brand).
Darlindeb,
Yes, we used to find small dead animals in the pool frequently. That is why DH started researching the problem, and found the Scamper Ramp.
Your Strawberry Blonde is one gorgeous lotus bloom! As much as I love all sorts of plants, flowers and gardening, nothing quite measures up to a real live lotus flower. They are almost magical, aren't they? Even when you are looking right at a real one, they don't quite seem real. It seems almost like you are looking at something mythical. I get the same feeling when looking at a live sea horse.
Sorry about that last krappy photo. Here is a better shot of Radar using the Scamper Ramp.
That is pretty amazing. I did some research and the company that makes a skamper or scamper ramp also makes something called frog logs. They are a sand bag type weighted thing with the white part floating in the water and a ramp that seems to have some traction to it for the frogs to climb up.
I was out of town so I haven't done all the research yet. There maybe more than one company producing these. I liked the look of yours more than the one I found through Google. If your husband still has info on the company he got his through, I'd like there website.
Here is a tiny bowl lotus called 'Sunrise Bowl.' A water garden enthusiast got it from Water's Edge in Kansas and shared some tubers with me.
I'd love to know more about the "Frog Logs"! Bet they'd be good for our turtles, too!
Okay, go to poolcenter.com for the frog logs. I don't know if the angle would be too steep for turtles?
If you do go to that website, look at their skamper ramp and see if it's like your's would ya?
I'd love to hear all about your turtles. Maybe you could start a turtle thread. We live in the country and have had red eared sliders just show up as well as other varieties of turtles.
I relocate them to the pond down the hill because they eat water lilies.
Okay, here is another lotus photo. This was a gift and I'm not sure of the name.
Those lotus (loti??, what is the plural of lotus??) are so gorgeous! Next year I am trying those, although even my most talented ponding gardening friends in the Southwest haven't been successful with them...yet!
As for the turtles, we are brand new to having turtles... everyone tells me that as they grow bigger they will be very destructive to the plants and possibly the fish. But you're right, maybe we should have a turtle thread, and everyone can educate me, as well as everyone else!
They sell the Scamper Ramp at dogramp.com.
We have had our Red-Eared Slider turtle for about 8 years now. She was born (hatched?) with no eyes, so she is blind. We heard the same stories about turtles being destructive in ponds, and that was the case when we had her in a small plastic pre-fab pond with just a few tiny plants. However, since we have put in the large in-ground pond with plenty of large plants, she has done minimal damage.
When she was small, I used to feed her with large tweezers, but now, I just toss food in to her, and she spends her day rooting around the pond, looking for it. She is quite large and strong, so she used to knock over the small light weight pots of umbrella palms and lotus. However, since we transplanted them into larger, heavier pots, she cannot push them over.
I have also added several plants, giving her plenty of leaves to play in , and have been surprised at how little damage she actually does. With only one plant, you would surely notice the damage, but that should just give you incentive to get more plants (yeah, like we all need an incentive).
As azreno said on another thread about this topic, every ponding experience is unique. After having Radar for so long, I can safely say, that having a real live turtle in your pond can be just as rewarding as having real live plants, especially lotus.
Sheral
I think your southwest friends may have just hit a bad year or not had enough sun where they put their lotus. Also, they may not have given them any fertilizer.
A gardening bud in Kermit, TX was told lotus wouldn't grow there by someone at a garden center. I sent her a start last year and it bloomed this year.
You can also grow lotus in tubs outside of the pond.
The world's largest collection of water lilies is in Texas. I wish Dave would have a meeting of the water garden folks there. Maybe I'll write him and see what he thinks.
I do think you need a turtle thread. I was amazed your turtle could swim in the swimming pool without getting damage from the pool chemicals.
Darlindeb,
Yes, I agree that a turtle forum might be nice, but I am not sure how many other people think the same way. My DH said that all children seem to have an inherent fascination with turtles, but then seem to loose interest in them once they reach adulthood.
PBS recently ran a POV (Point Of View) special about a guy named Richard Ogust who kept over a thousand turtles in his Manhatten penthouse, until he was forced out by his neighbors. He had the largest collection of endangered and extinct-in-the-wild turtles in the world, and went broke/homeless trying to establish a safe haven to protect them. It was an extremely sad tale that I recorded and have watched several times. Each time I watch it, I sit there with a box of kleenex, and just cry like a baby through the whole program.
On the other topic, now that I think of it, my lotus did not do well at first either. Then I read somewhere, probably on DG, that they do not do well in water that is moving much. They prefer more still, or slow moving water. So, I moved the lotus over to the side of the pond that got the least amount of water movement, and even put a few additional rocks on either side to minimize the flow around the pot. Suddenly, the lotus seemed to nearly jump out of the pot, sending out one huge leaf after another. Just this morning, I noticed the third flower bud coming up.
Sometimes the simplest things can make a tremendous difference with plants.
Sheral
Hi all, just to clarify... my turtles are in the pond, not the pool. And thanks so much for the advice on the lotus! I am going to try them next year! (or sooner....)
Brenda