A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Water Gardens Hardy Waterlily

Check out what my mom bought me today at Walmart, how cool is this? For about $6 you get this kit--to grow a hardy lily. She got it as a little early Easter present for me! Can't wait to get it going out in the pond, I sure hope it grows as pretty as the picture on the front!

They're just in a little plastic case, next time you go you should ask them! :thum:

I've seen them at ours.most are gone.I wanted red so not got yet...but looking still

Ooooooooooooooh loz - I'm sooooooooo glad you posted this, this morning before I went out to WalMart!!! I had a bunch of things to return, and then went straight to the plant department, where I found a small display of these hardy lilies with most still there, so I had my pick of the litter!

Of course I had to get almost 1 of each color!!! :clps: :thum: That price is excellent compared to other places I've been looking! I got 2 of the ones on the outside in the picture, because I really liked the color. I also made sure to open each top and check that the plants were healthy - I only bought ones that I could see were starting to grow already - I'm setting them up on a plant stand in this room in front of a south facing window, and am going to water them to give them a headstart, since I can't put them out until May at the earliest. It says on the container that they are hardy down to -30 as long as the water does not freeze at the plant line! I'm hoping that this is actually true - one can never tell with plants that are a bargain, you know? :duhh:



uh oh... I've been researching these plants and am now wondering it I got too many??? :duhh:

Oooo, Lynne.....that's so cool you got all of those! :shotz: :clps:



I was trying to figure that out, because if it's -30 then wouldn't the water be frozen at the plant line anyway??

What's the best way to care for them in the winter do you think?

And they are a great price I think! Way to go on getting all of those!

loz - help!!!!!!!

The containers say you can plant them in the pond anywhere from 24 inches to 60 inches, but when I found 3 of the 4 different varieties online, they all said to plant only at 24 inches. Also... the container says to "take inner mesh bag containing water lily out of packaging, and place bag into pond." Well... when I removed the mesh bag from the plastic container, to get the plastic bag off of it, the tubers were not INSIDE the mesh, but mearly place in the middle of them!!! So, how are they supposed to stay INSIDE the mesh when they are submerged into the pond???

I think I'm going to have to look for some of those pots that are used for pond plants - I have no idea where to find them, or how expensive they are? But I do know that the very expensive yet very very nice ponding store near me has one of the ones I got today in their catalogue for...$36!!!!!!! I'm sure it must be an older, larger plant, but still! They say in the catalogue to plant them in top soil (?), and place them with 6-24 inches of water over the top of the pot - hmmmmmmm...

oh - I think when they say plant line, they mean the bulb or tuber in the pot - not where the leaves are floating on the surface - those, of course will die back.

Lynne, what are the names of your water lilies? Mine is attraction and on brecks it says you can plant in 4-36 inches. Is your new pond going to have shelving around the sides that you could set the bottom part down on to?

I haven't opened mine yet to look at it....I guess we will be figuring this out together huh? lol

It'll be fun doing this together, loz!

The ones I got are:

2 Fabiola - pink
1 Colorado - salmon - wish I had gotten 2 of that one - the pictures online are gorgeous!!!
1 sulphurea - yellow
1 James Brydon - dark pink

The pond will definitely have shelves - probably only on 2 sides though - the front is not strong enough for them, and the back will have the waterfall.

Are you going to dig out a bigger pond this summer?

Well I was hoping to, it all comes down to money though...things have been super tight! If we can't do it this year I guess I'll have to be patient and think of next year.

You got such a nice selection! :thum:

This seems like quite an adventure.... :thum:

I sure hope they all grow well! Fingers crossed! :thum:

Thanks loz - I hope yours grows well too! I wish I could put mine outside earlier like you can...

Here are the plants in the tub filled with water:



And with the screening taped down on the sides over the tub:


Now we wait and see...

That looks really good Lynne, I'm going to do that to mine too tomorrow. :thum:

And our really nice weather is turning yucky---high of 28 one day this week and dare I say it? SNOW flurries!

hey ya'll, i bought the yellow one the other day....i plunked mine right in the bottom of the pond and it already is sending up one shoot. that was just 3 days ago. i kind of corked screwed mine down in the middle of the mesh and it has not floated out of it yet. once it gets going, the roots should hold it in. the one in my other pond is about 2 years old. no special treatment and not sure if i even do it right......again, plunked it to the bottom, it does fine, then in fall i whack it down to the basket. they don't seem to be that picky. good luck with yours!

oh, just a little note, if you keep them in anything other than a plant pot with NO holes (to contain the roots), the roots will spread out EVERYWHERE in the bottom of the pond, twisting their way under gravel and all! this is my mom's hard lesson learned. trying to clean the sludge build-up of the bottom last year, she liked to have never got the roots untangled from the gravel!

both my ponds are 2 ft, deep. the first one with the 2 year old lily came in a plant basket.....small, square, with small holes in it. i still have it it there, but when i cut it back last fall, i picked the whole thing up out of the water to displace some of the roots. i did not want it to get like mom's was. mom was going to put her's in some type of pot to keep it some what root bound. she also has small ponds. i guess it really doesn't matter, the only thing is if you ever want to do anything to the plant where you have to pick the whole thing up, if the roots are left to "go where they may", it really mucks up the water and keeps debris in it. if your pond is going to be on the bigger side, it shouldnt matter. in mine, the river pebbles i have in the bottom of the pond was getting tangled in the roots.

Hey guys! Great deal on the lilies. :thum:

You don't have to worry about how deep they are planted half as much as how far they spread.

medium to large spreading (4+ feet spread but can be upwards to 12 feet)
Attraction
Colorado
James Brydon

small to medium spreading (1 to 3+ feet spread)
Fabiola
Sulfurea (unless it is Sulfurea gigantica)

It is safe to say that as long as your ponds don't freeze solid the lilies will be fine.

If you want the lilies to thrive, plant them in dirt and a bigger pot. Lilies don't need deep pots they need wide pots. The tubers grow on the surface of the soil not under it. Use pots with no holes. I use (plastic) cat litter pans or oil drip pans. Don't use dirt that has peat moss in it, it makes a mess when it floats. They need fertilizer too. If you can find pond tabs they are easy to use. This year I was going to try osmocote for mine.

Loz- I hope everything works out for you to get the bigger pond.

Great tips Donna, I will have to get a litter pan today while I'm out! :thum:

Looking forward to pics Lynne!

Yep I am Donna


Loz- I get the small pans not the real big ones. :thum:

Donna you are like a pond expert, you really hooked me up last year with the plants....I think it was Anacharis you sent me last year...well I tried to put it in my fishtank to keep some for this year and my stupid goldfish ate the whole thing....all of it! :nutz:

Small pan....right! Gonna get one! :thum: :kisy:

I sure wish I was an expert Loz. I just like watergardening a lot.

Are you needing some more anacharis? It will be around May before it starts to reproduce well. I can send ya some then if ya like.

Donna

Ooooo yes please! The baby mosquito really loved that because they could hide in it and not get eaten!

Heck, you know a lot more about ponds than I do, that makes you an expert to me!

Here's an update on how my water lilies are doing in the tub today.





The leaves that had started growing before I bought them are a little tattered on the edges, but the new ones look pretty good I think.

Cool Lynne, yours are doing pretty good so far!

I just now stuck mine in a container and took a few pics...

i was noticing that my waterlily was sending up leaves. it is doing much better this year, it didn't do anything last year at all :(

Jiffy - hope you get lots of flowers this time!

loz - I just had to buy one of the mini cattails while I was in WalMart today - stuck it in the tub with the others - but boy is that water icy cold!!! I hope it doesn't stop the plants from flowering this year!

I hope you do too Jiffy!

Cool Lynne, I'm glad you got one too---I was wondering(don't laugh)...would it stay warmer if there were a covering of saran wrap across the top for a bit?

I put my container in front of a window, but it's been so cold here lately.

I finally made it to walmart to get a water lily. They also had minature cattails in the same packaging. I bought one of those too.

QUESTION? has anybody plopped their waterlily in the pond yet??????? i am having trouble with my pond turning orange. YES, ORANGE! a few weeks ago, i thought the dog threw up in it, (one of those chewy dog bones did not set well). so i drained it and now it did it again! so today, i drained it AGAIN! now i think that fiber in the mesh is to blame. i took it apart as the pond was filling up and planted it in something else.

your thoughts please?!?!? thank goodness i have no fish in this one yet!

I put my waterlily and a minature cattail plant in. It was the ones from walmart in the mesh bag. My lily is starting to grow, but my water is ok, and my fish are fine. Do you use well water? Sometimes it can be orange from rust. I will continue to watch my water plants.

Wendy - I won't be able to put my plants outside here for another month - our last frost date is May 15th here. But I doubt they'll be able to go out even then, as my husband needs to shape the pond first, and get the filter, pump, waterfall and everything up and running first! I just wish that WalMart didn't sell these things soooo early in the season - they should know better - that we can't plant until mid-May! I grabbed them because the price was soooo great! I saw the exact same plants for sale at a petstore here just this week, for $2 more apiece!

Here are mine today - the lilies are growing so much, that some of the leaves are actually out of the water in the tub - HELP!!! I cannot get a larger tub - I just hope they don't dry out, not being in the water anymore!

Wow Lynne! Mine is nowhere near that big---it's just starting to send shoots of leaves out of the base.

The cattails are growing a bit too.......

I don't know what to tell you about a bigger place to put them......unless you put them each in a storage thing so they have more room to spread there leaves out on the surface?

I'd help ya out if I could...when we moved we bought literally about 40 storage containers and we have a ton empty in the basement.

I went back to walmart yesterday and got an iris (same brand as waterlilies) all have been marked down to 4.50. but when I went in to look for a hanging basket, I found the boxes of water plants (3 to a box) marked down to 7.00 a box. They included 2 waterlilies and 1 minature cattail. The boxes were located on the bottom shelf where the different potting soils and jiffy pellets were located. Ya'll may want to check your stores.

no we dont have well water, but that was my only theory on mmy orange water. we will see id it does it agsin.

Sherri - my tiny WalMart NEVER marks anything down!
I saw a couple of those boxes with 3 in them a few weeks ago, but they are probably gone by now. I only paid $4.99 for the water lilies - how much were yours before they got marked down to $4.50?

5.44, so that wasn't much of a markdown. But maybe if mine are already marked down (because of warmer weather here), maybe yours will be before long.

gee, i was just checking this thread and noticed my spelling----you can always tell when i take my ambien then type!

sorry!

Ok - so are these going to make it until I can get them out in about a month or so?
They are getting so long and leggy, and are actually growing out of the water!