Hi Gail. I've overwintered iris in my pond for 6 years now and am much colder than you. Have also overwintered both iris and pickeral rush by burying the plant pot and all in the flowerbed next to the house and covered area with dirt then peat moss as well. Just make sure you remove all the peat moss before digging out the plant in the spring. If the water lily is a hardy and your garage is unheated just put the plant pot and all in a black garbage bag in the garage. Check it every now and then to make sure it is still wet. Have also overwintered lilies in their pot in a laundry tub full of pond water in the cold room in the basement. They did just fine. If it's a tropical lily then you'll have to remove the tuber from it's pot bag it and store it in the fridge. I believe the fiber optic is a tropical. I have one too and am going to try overwintering it in the house in it's pot set in water treated like a house plant. I overwintered water cannas in a vase full of pea gravel and just made sure it had water and it overwintered well. Same with parrot feather which didn't do as well but may have needed a sunnier location. Hope this helps. Patti

Patti -- Thanks for the suggestions. Do you need to cut back the lily before storing in the black trash bag? Do you seal the top of the bag, or leave it open?

Thanks!
Gail

Gail in both black bag or tub method cut back the lily stems to the crown. Black bag tie it shut. In either method if stored in the garage your garage must not freeze. When I stored mine they were in a cold room that was at 40-45F. When I stored them in laundry tubs with water they actually started growing in the spring earlier than the black bag method but if I remember correctly I moved them out into the basement and put a grow light over them to get them growing before starting up the pond. My pond start is not until mid May if I'm lucky. In the spring to get the lilies growing again put them back in your pond but only about 6 inches below the surface so that they get the benefit of the sun and warmer water. Once the leaves reach the surface you can lower the lilies to the depth you usually grow them at. I found that the lilies in the deep end of my pond (4 ft) grow larger leaves than the ones that are in a shallower section (2 ft) don't know why. Iris and pickeral should be cut back to about 2 inches above dirt/medium level before burying the ground. Have fun. Patti