Water garden/pond plant co-op

An awesome co-op just started for water plants. Some terrific prices for those of you with a pond or like me do water garden containers. They've added water lotus this year! Whoo Hoo!!!

Here is the website to see the plants:
http://www.texaswaterlilies.com/marginalsphotos.htm

And here is the thread with the prices:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/809632/

They are selling the White Peacock host plant Moneywort Bacopa for $2.50 each plant plus shipping.

If you are into water gardening, you should DEFINITELY check this co-op out. It is only running for about 10 days or until our quanitities are gone. Happy shopping!!! :-)

Boy! I would sure hate to see some of you miss out on this co-op. Many of you are like me and do not have a pond. Believe me, you don't need a pond to grow water plants. I bought 2 small container "ponds" at HD for $30 each. I decided to group them together in an area of my bogless garden. The flowers are gorgeous, they give Dragonflies a place to lay their eggs, and a place for creatures to drink. And some plants are host plants and any blooming plant is a nectar plant.

Here is my water container area.

And here's how I grow my lotus (Dwarf varieties and medium size.) This is the second year for those in the 3 pots. I have Momo Botan (pink), Baby Doll (white), and Red Scarf (red). They were just small tubers when I got them. One was a very small tuber/root from Texas Waterlilies. (It was actually a freebie when I order Lotus seeds from them.) And as you can see, they are all sprouting new floater leaves. I had aerial leaves too last year, but no blooms. I heard they often take 2 years of growth from a single tuber to get blooms. So I have my fingers crossed that they all 3 bloom this year.

I've ordered 2 more and will pick up a couple more plastic pots from Wally world. These are large pots with no holes in the bottom. I think I paid between $15 - 30 per pot last year. They look nice grouped together or as showcase plants around my yard. They do need full sun all day long or at least 6 hours. Preferably more like 8-10 hours a day to really grow and bloom. The nice thing about pots is that you can move them to a sunnier spot as the season changes. Be sure to have at least 4 - 5" of water above the dirt line/lotus tuber.

So ... anyone can grow these as long as you have a sunny place in your yard. They need tab fertilizer every 3 weeks. But other than that, they are pretty simple to care for and the results are beautiful. Honestly, I believe the Lotus flower is one of the MOST BEAUTIFUL flowers in the world! :-)

Do consider checking out the co-op! You can't beat the prices. AND you don't need a pond to grow any of these plants! :-)

Here are the instructions on how to grow Lotus:
http://www.plawski.com/how_to_plant_lotus.html

And here's a great link for photos of dwarf Lotus grown in pots:
http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ponds/gal011949278549.html

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Becky, you're such a good saleslady that I put a small order in! I got a couple of the bacopas to try and attract the White Peacock, thanks for the tip!

Also, update on the Ipomoea nil (Becky's Magic Mix is what I call it!) that I started a while back: 3 of the 7 germinated right off, 3 more have germinated with bottom heat, just waiting for one more!

Cathy

I have one water lily in one of those black water containers like yours. I am always having to change the water, it gets green and black slimy stuff on the bottom and sides. Does yours? How often do you change the water, if you do?
~Lucy

Lucy - I rarely change the water in mine. You probably need more water plants to help clear up the water. Be sure to add pond fertilizer tabs not regular fertilizer in the pond. I usually push the tabs down into the soil of each individual pot of my waterlilies. Fertilizer will also cloud or cause algae to grow. If the algae gets really thick, I scoop it out and toss. The algae need sunlight to grow. If you have a lot of plants in the pond, the algae won't get much sun to be able to grow. Whenever I add plants or change the plants to bigger pots, it unbalances the water and it gets green or black also. Clears up within a few days though on it's own. The plants are what balances the algae in the water. Which is why I have about 8 waterlilies and 2-3 marginal plants in each small black pond. LOL! You can't even see the water for all the lily pads in the summer! And all the blooms make these little ponds just beautiful. A friend of mine uses those cheap plastic blue kiddie pools from Wally world to grow lotus in. She buries it down in the ground and she grows the larger Lotus plants. So pretty!!!

Cathy - I'm glad I twisted your arm! LOL! Good luck growing them! They are like no other flowers! And the Bacopa will definitely attract White Peacock Butterflies. Do tell me how they package the Bacopa when they send it to you. I have tried to send pieces to folks and they didn't make it. I think it was my packaging.

Thanks, Becky. : ) I'll try a few more plants.

Their prices can't be beat! Most of the waterlilies and Lotus plants go for $30-50 each from other companies! My waterlilies were very healthy and bloomed when I received them last year. I was very pleased and think anyone ordering from them will be too!

Becky, when I got home last night and was checking the mail, I saw my first White Peacock! I told it that soon there would be Bacopa in the bf smorgasboard...
Can't wait for the TX Waterlilies order to get here!
Cathy

Cathy - Did you recently order? I ordered when the co-op started and got my plants within a week. Mine are already planted in my water containers. Even this cool front we've had hasn't seemed to slow down the growth on my new water Lotus purchases. :-) I have my fingers crossed for blooms this year! X X X X X

Bacopa can be pinched or cut off and stuck into new pots. I have 4 different pots of Bacopa growing in my yard now! BRING ON THE WP butterflies! LOL! Good luck attracting them to your yard! If you pinch or smoosh the leaves, it smells like lemons. :-) And it has tiny white or light blue blooms! I really, really like this plant! The only bad thing ... the WP eat it down to the nubs and then it doesn't look so pretty until it grows back again! LOL! Though it does re-leaf itself pretty quickly with fertilizer. (Osmocote is what I use on it!) Just be sure to keep the soil wet/moist at all times. If it dries out, the plant will die.

TOMORROW (Friday) is the last day to order from this co-op! If you were debating whether to order or not ... don't skip it and regret it later. You can NOT beat the prices that TWL is giving us! They will also ship at a later date per your request. :-)

Hi Becky, yes I did place an order on Feb 4th and just sent an email to ask when they would be shipping the plants. Maybe one of the things I ordered wasn't ready yet...
I can't wait to see/smell the bacopa! I'll be scratch and sniffing as soon as I open the box!
Cathy

Got an email from TX Waterlilies, they'll be shipping my order on Tues. the 19th, yay!