Has anybody put their container water garden to bed yet for the winter? I have nowhere to keep my hardy water lilies over the winter. The only thing I can think of is to cut the foliage down to the tuber, wrap in damp newspaper, and store the package in the frig for the winter. Does anybody have any other ideas? Here it is after a summer of delightful Helvola (hardy) blooms. I have two plants. Also, a Lizard's Tail which I'd like to keep and don't know how.
I would think that the tubers would rot in the fridge because of the humidity but have never tried it. Since I have a small outdoor pond I have never given it much thought. I know that people use damp peat moss to store bulbs in and just keep them in a cool place. You might try that.
As far as the lizard tail is concerned, can you pot it up and treat it like a house plant over the winter? I know that a lot of the water plants can do well in a lot of different conditions and it would probably work.
I read an article years ago about some place in Colorado that had a massive display of water lilies in a park or botanical garden. They would take their water lilies out of the water treat them with a fungicide and store in damp peat moss till spring.
I have used this technique with lotus tubers after the leaves have all turned brown. I would hose them off and treat them with Captan (spelling?) fungicide powder. The first time I did this I didn't lose any. The second time I tried doing it I lost a few to rot. I placed the tubers inside a peatmoss filled bag and placed the bags in large coolers and boxes in my garage (which doesn't freeze). I used gloves and a face mask when working with this powder. Also, they were rinsed thoroughly in the spring and I let them float on top of the water for a while in containers. This fungicide is toxic to fish, so keep that in mind if you have any small gold fish in your container garden(s).
Here is a photo of lotus tubers I was getting ready to store in peatmoss.
Great idea darlindeb, I think I'll try that. The article you're referring to was the Denver Botanic Gardens. They have a lot of water lilies there. One year they were having an international show, all the lilies were blooming, and they'd gone to a lot of trouble because they were hosting world-wide experts. The night before we had a huge hailstorm, and it ruined all the lilies. I'll never forget that. It was heartbreaking.
I can put my tubers in a small cooler for the winter. I think I could probably even leave them outside in a protected place on the balcony.
I don't know how cold it get's on your balcony. I'm sure you need to protect them from freezing.
Helvola is more resilient than many, it would cope well floating bare root in a dish of water in a well lit window or under strip lights in an aquarium
Some hardies can be quite tetchy stored indoors, Helvola seems to be an exception
Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
Good idea. Now if I only had either an available well-lit window or an aquarium... I do have strip lights, so maybe I could just use a couple of bowls.
I just spent the morning getting a handle on stringy algae. My other water plants are doing okay, even the anacharis. We haven't had sustained freezing weather yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.
