Water Lilies

Hi woo. I guess you've seen my pond thread with the water lilies. The pale pink ones were bought years ago from someone who was getting rid of their pond, so they were well-grown ones. The red one is store-bought, a dwarf variety. It took several years before it got going but last year it did very well.

Hubby just potted them up and into the pond they went. They never had any special feed or care, I think they must be one of the plants that thrive on neglect.

Just make sure you put them in pots or baskets to keep them under control or you'll have your new pond choked up in no time. No rich nutrient soil either, starve them a bit.

Water lilies also prefer still water, so if you have a fountain or waterfall in the new pond, put the water lilies as far away as possible.

Good luck!

 

We have a lot of shade on ours too. The pond is completely shady in the morning, it gets sun in the afternoon. When does yours get the sun?

 

Is there water in it yet? How many cubic liters is in it?

Perhaps you can just enlarge it to get more sun on it. But I wouldn't have the whole pond open to the sun, not unless it is really large enough to cope with it.

Ours gets the afternoon sun, but we have this huge Atlas Cedar on the one side and it has branches overhanging the pond, so it does get shade too.

 

Don't go for a large variety Woo these things can grow enormous root systems,here's a link to the rhs guide to water lilies
http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0405/waterlilies.asp

 

Woo, all water lilies need sun, some more, some less. This James Brydon is a beauty but it still needs 4-6 hours of sun a day.

http://www.petclubuk.com/view/product.do?id=2959

As walnut says, get a dwarf variety. Our pale pink one, a regular, overtakes the pond every few years.

 

Woo, I just took some pics of our pond, showing


- the Atlas cedar overhanging the pond to give some shade in the afternoon when the sun is coming from the right -




- a view from the front of the pond showing the "island" -




- and a close-up of the "island" -




This "island" has built up around the large pale pink water lilies. Hubby keeps saying he is going to clear it all out and get rid of half of these water lilies. He has been saying this for the past 2 years. But then he doesn't as the newts live in it now. Or the tadpoles are hatched out. Or the froglets are now swimming around. Or he just can't be bothered as it is a major job.

Anyway, don't let yours build up like this.

 

nice looking pond

 

This was only to show what can happen if you get a big waterlily and it gets out of hand, sort of a warning. I don't think that this island looks good in the pond.