Absolutely beautiful, Terry. I especially like the dark pink one.

I've got 3 waterlilies. One has been blooming well for quite awhile. One has had one bloom, and the third hasn't bloomed at all yet. I'm not sure why. Do you fertilize? And if so with what? Gorgeous pictures you have there too!

Very nice pics. I have a small pond (5 by 7 feet) and after what seemed like a slow start, my lilies finally have lots of leaves and some blooms as well. In fact, due to the great summer weather, my pond surface is almost completely covered with floating water lettuce, water hyacinth, and water lily leaves. I may have to start "weeding" just so I can see my goldfish.

As for my water lilies, I wrap the tubers in moist paper towels and store in baggies in the fridge crisper for winter. By the time spring comes, they are starting to sprout so I pot them up and place in the cold pond water. Of course they really don't start growing much until the pond water warms up somewhat.

I bought all my lilies as tubers from walmart. The funny part is that I tried to pick one red one, one yellow one, and one white one. I excitedly waited for them to bloom and when they all bloomed I realized that they were all white. But, white is still nice.

Thanks for sharing your pics
Glen

laurie, container grown water lilies MUST be kept well fed, otherwise they will produce few and small blooms! What works VERY GOOD for me is that triple 14 slow release perennial fertilizer, the grey pelleted stuff a person can pick up at Canadian Tire or such. In the spring when I'm repotting the plants, I sprinkle a good bit in the bottom of the container, but don't over do it, as you'll get all foliage rather than flowers! Also one can feed then during summer (such as now) by making several deep holes (with your finger) in and around the roots, and into each hole putting in about a level teaspoon of the same fertilizer ... then be sure to push soil back in the holes!

Glen, good to know of your method of storing the plants in the fridge for winter. This is definitely the way to go when one does not have access to a coldroom. Yes, it's often disappointing purchasing mislabelled plants from places such as Walmart. Generally my plants have come via mail order from reliable firms.

I set them out in early April, as soon as snow has melted and I've been able to clean and fill the pool. My well water is high in sodium, in which the lilies very much dislike, so I syphon in fresh water from a low lying area. I cover the pool with plastic and the water warms up quickly in the spring sunshine. Generally, I have my very first blooms by the third week of May, or even a bit earlier.

Terry

Thanks for that info Terry. I think I'll go out and put some slow release fertilizer in the pink one that hasn't bloomed yet and see if that'll give it a jump start. In the spring I did put in a couple of those jobes spikes in, but maybe I needed more than that.

As for winter storage, I have an extra fridge in the basement, and come fall I just drain out the water from the pots and put the waterlily, pot and all, into a black garbage bag and throw them in the fridge. Works every time.

In mid to late March, I take them out and put them into a 5 gallon pail of water. On nice sunny days they go out on the south deck and come in for the night if it's really cold. By mid April we fill the pond and let it warm up for 2-3 weeks before putting the waterlilies in. I never thought of using plastic to warm the water up quicker. That would make a big difference.

Laurie

Terry
These are absolutely beautiful plants and pictures!

Thanks to you, the plants you have given to me some years ago, are growing in a bucket and hanging into the water from the bridge. For winterizing, all I have done is, sunk the whole bucket with plants and all down to the bottom of pond on a string.
Not sure anymore what color they are exactly, they flowered ones about 3 weeks ago, now another one is blooming and have seen a couple more buds.
The only draw back with this system is, I have to lower the bucket as the water reseeds, but I want to make some kind of a float to keep the bucket suspended by itself and not the rope.
I sure love them!!
Konrad
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Hi Konrand, looks like you've come up with an ingenious method of growing your water lilies with having to deal with those flucuating water levels. If you would lower the container down so that it's about 1 ft below the surface, then the leaves would nicely spead across the surface, and the flowers would be more easily seen. I appreciate you posting! Thanks!

Terry

Your water lily pics are beautiful. I have been growing waterlilies for about 5 years and have tried different ways of over wintering them--from keeping them in the fridge one year, the container wrapped in wet towels and stored in a root cellar another, then finally two years ago, I left one outside to see how it would do in the pond. Surprise! It overwintered there beautifully with nothing being done to it other than cutting the stems back just before freeze up. My pond is shallow--about two and half to three feet deep. I have done this now for two years and they have come back successfully. As to fertilizing the lilies--I read on a web site to use fruit tree fertilizer spikes. Just cut one spike into four chunks and every month push three of the chunks into the lily pot, making sure to push the holes back with dirt. This method is very cheap too and works great!
The fish I keep in a container in a just above freezing area. I do not feed them or anything. They go dormant for the winter. One time the water in the container did freeze with the fish embedded in it--I thawed it out slowly and the fish survived. Kind of amazing.

Great photos, thanks for sharing.

Re overwintering. We have two small ponds. One 20" deep. The other 24". We keep them both open in winter (Keep the pump and spitter flowing) and never take our water lilies indoors (or the goldfish). They 've done fine and we still haven't lost a plant or goldfish. We just pull out the pots in spring, divide the water lilies (too many, give most away)and repot with mostly fresh soil. They start blooming about July 10th give or take a couple days. We have various colours but, in general, the white ones are the most prolific. The leaves usually start to cover the pond and I remove about a third every week or so to allow the flowers to be more visible.

Alpiner, so you don't use a heater, just keep the water flowing all winter? And it's never frozen solid? I don't know if I have the guts to try it, as I'm pretty attached to my fish. With my luck, the pump would quit or the power would go out in mid January, and I'd have one big pondsicle!lol

Laurie, how deep is your pond?

Brenda

Laurie, yes we have a trough heater but only plug it in for a couple days a winter (when it'll be minus 25c or so). The other advantage of open water is that it's a magnet for winter birds.

Goldfish do much better when left outside. Less disease, death and so on. Plus, for us, we don't have other fish so the bother with an aquarium isn't involved. I can't say I find aquarium maintenance and cleaning much fun. I find plugging in a trough heater a half dozen times a winter easier than bringing in the fish, water plants,etc. cleaning out an aquarium, feeding fish, cleaning the sides, the smell and so on.

One way to help keep even a small pond open all year is to cover half the surface with a piece of styrofoam (cut it bean-shaped or so to make it look natural. It'll look like ice or snow and keeps the water underneath from freezing if you have a circulating pump. Also, birds will use the styrofoam as a landing spot.

Brenda, my pond is 2' at the deepest and goes up to 18" and is about 750 gallons.

Alpiner, I hear ya about the aquarium maintenance.......not my favourite job either. I've got a couple koi and some larger shebunkins that I would worry about, so I'd have to bring them in for sure. But the regular goldfish could be guinea pigs! My biggest concern is that our pump isn't exactly reliable. We've been going through a couple each summer(good thing for warranty!), so I have my doubts as to whether this pump would make it all winter. Also, last winter was terrible here for power outages with so much ice on the hydro lines. I bet we had 6 or 7 days where the power had been out anywhere from 1 hour to 8 hours.

The styrofoam sounds like a really slick trick too. I'll have to really sit down and think about over-wintering things out in the pond for this winter and talk it over with DH too.

Thanks for the encouragement and the tips!

Laurie

My water lily is about to bloom, my first one ever. I think it is going to be a white one

Congrats Ginger! You'll love it ;^)

Terry, your water lilies are gorgeous! Makes me jealous. Mine are flowering too but not as prolific as yours. Beautiful!
Laurie, I'm with you. I'm attached to my fish too. The first year I had my pond, I tried to winter the fish and killed them all, even though I thought I took the right steps. Since then I've taken them in but I've had "babies" for the past two years. I've given some away to other ponders but I have to get another solution to the aquarium system.
Alpiner, did you find your electric bill out of sight running the pump and a trough heater? I know someone who tried that and he said his bill was too high and it wasn't worth it. Of course this is ON Hydro - maybe that's why!

>> If you would lower the container down so that it's about 1 ft below the surface, then the leaves would nicely spread across the surface, and the flowers would be more easily seen.

Thanks Terry for your help!.....I don't have to worry anymore, because the Muskrat chopped most of the leafs off!
One question , when there is butts / flowers, and I sink the pot 1 foot deeper, will
they still reach to the surface??
Konrad

Hi Konrad, the water lilies will have no problem bringing their flowers to the surface when being placed at a greater depth. There are water lilies growing upon Lake Isle that are at a depth of seven to eight feet! Although, what is growing there is a particularly vigorous variety called 'Gladstone'. Had you previously seen the impressive water lilies growing at the Devonion Gardens? They had performed extremely well ... that is until the severe droughts of several years back, and I think they've now have been lost.

Terry

Thanks again Terry!

>>Had you previously seen the impressive water lilies growing at the Devonion Gardens?

Yes, many year ago, that was awesome!
Konrad