Last year I foolishly dropped a bundle for a water lily for a container water garden/fountain I keep in a 23-inch pot on my patio. Because the patio is in partial to deep shade where I have the fountain, and I think because the water moved too much, the water lily never thrived. I had two goldfish and two snails in the fountain as well.
One night raccoons came in and had sushi and escargot, and upended the water lily pot . After (I'm embarassed to admit) several months, I finally went out this weekend to clean out the pot and start over. Lo and behold, the water lily corm that was floating on the top of the water has little green shoots. There aren't many roots attached.
I went out and got some "planting medium" (I wish I'd know to just use cat litter) and potted up the little corm and its sprouts. I left it fairly near the top of the sand, only slightly covered, and put the pot in the one bit of sunlight I have.
Any other words of wisdom for me?
Thanks in advance!
Water lily novice
You would be amazed at how determined these plants are to survive. I would however advise you to repot in some cat litter and maybe some slow release fertilizer. You will not like the smell of your little pot as things rot and "sour". Move it into a spot that gets a lot of sun and you will have a nice lily in no time!
Lilies do best in lots of sun and they really dont like moving water. Make a small watergarden for it in a fancy pot in the sun and it will be much happier.
charlotte
Thank you both for your suggestions!
I am also a novice water gardener and Have a question about water temp. I purchased two Perry's Baby Reds last year. They were planted in aquatic soil with fertilizer for aquatics in tubs on my sunny patio. I got good leaf growth but no blooms. Is it possible that the water got too hot in the sun?
Both ot them are putting out leaves already and I would like to know how to make them happy this year. Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Beth
Hi Beth,
Yups, its possible for a container position to get too hot in the sun. Temps in the high nineties and over will force many trop or hardy lilies into 'heat dormancy'
Hardies stop flowering, put up smaller foliage and stunt. Fortunately they are very heat tolerant, can bake in the sun in a dried out pond in many cases. The majority of hardies are very resilient to excessive temps, a few such as Laydekeri lilacea, are not
Tropical waterlily foliage tends to turn to mush and the plant dies back to what tuber has formed. If the plant has not formed a tuber, its dead. Wide variation in hot tolerance among the tropical waterlily varieties... Albert Greenberg and Woods Blue Goddess are poor, Queen of Siam and Tina very tough to high temps etc
Early in the year, hot weather can cause a small pond to over heat too easy, before the plant has formed self shading foliage.
This can catch out tropical waterlilies in particular. Surface coverage by floating plants, lilypads can moderate pond water temps 15°f cooler, a vital difference between a pond waters thriving with 70's water and a pond struggling with high 90's water (for both fish and plants)
If you put a thermometer in your tub, you might consider shading the position through midday when temps hit 95°f, the plant will thrive if you do, stunt if you don't
Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/
Thanks, Andy. It sounds like I need to relocate the container to a section of the patio that will receive less sun in the latter part of the day. Time to get a bucket and start bailing.
Beth