Marleneann, Goldfish won't live in this climate. But I have got several Delicate Blue-eyes (Pseudomugil tenellus) in there plus one Spangled Grunter (Leiopotherapon unicolor). The Grunter is a 'bully boy' of the fish world but I can't get it out now. The Blue-eyes eat mosquito larvae but don't touch tadpoles. Incidentally, there's Utricularia gibba in there as well.

When the Lotus finally takes over it'll shade a lot of the other plants out. There's 3 species of Waterlilies (Nymphaea spp), Nymphoides indica, Nymphoides aurantiaca, a Marsilea sp. fern, Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), and Urospatha grandis in that pond. I got a bit carried away with small plants which grew and grew and grew. Unfortunately I've got access to more water plants than pond space, LOL.

You will have to make a bigger pond!

I have a number of pond projects going, this one is number 3. Project number 4 is much bigger, but 5 and 6 are only a little bigger than this one. The different set-ups are to favour specific plants with the current one being mainly for Lotus, a white variety of Nelumbo nucifera.

Thought I'd put in some update photos. Did manage to get a bit more work done on the pond and removed the protection from ducks. But the dam flooding brought my work to a halt and it'll have to wait for the rains to stop and the water levels to go down. But the Lotus has taken well to the greatly increased depth of water and has put up a number of taller leaves. Hoping when the water goes down it'll decide to start flowering.

Unfinished stone work.

Is that a larger pond or something that has flooded? I think those lotus have jumped ship. I had a friend that had 3 large ponds and they rued the day they planted lotus in them. They are just unbelievably aggressive........but you probably know that. they are so beautiful though. Good luck on all your projects!

Thanks Catherinet. The larger pond is what I call my "dam". It was a small dam originally but I've been landscaping around it and incorporating it into the general garden (or extending the garden around it). But it dries out completely during our dry season. The only thing that grows in it are waterlilies which survive as tubers. The lotus pond is permanent and when the water levels are up looks like it's just part of the dam. If the Lotus try to make an "escape" into the dam the dry season will trim them back. Yes, I do know how aggressive they can be, mine will be kept on a short leash, LOL.

Wow that is some pond!

Tropic... do you know what varieties they are?

Getting those lotus seeds to germinate is easy...it's from then on it becomes difficult.

Marleneann, I got the seed from Thailand, only described as Nelumbo nucifera white flowered. Once you nick the seed they do germinate quite rapidly. But there's a lot of things that like to eat the seedlings. I lost most of my seedlings to hungry insectivorous mouths.

I'll pull out some photos of the dam and its setting but put them on another new thread. It's a work in progress, and will probably take longer than the rest of my life, LOL.

Tropic... did you purchase seeds on Ebay or did you bring them back from Thailand when on holiday?

Got them on Ebay, more within my budget than travelling there myself. Got some Victoria Waterlily seed as well and one is germinating only now. Got my fingers crossed for that one.

Surprised today when I saw the first flower buds on my Lotus, 2 of them. It's only taken 11 months from when I started soaking the seeds to when they've started flowering. Much faster than anticipated. I was counting on there being another 6 months at least. Will soon see what colour they turn out. Supposed to be white but will see.

Wow! You have had great luck getting them to grow from seeds. I have some seeds from last year's flowers. Maybe I can get them to grow. I have 3 different ones so they may turn out to be interesting crosses.

Hi

You're having much better luck than me . Have never tried seeds but got a tuber of one of the supposedly giant forms of asian lotus . It came up and grew well during summer though it never got over 3 feet and never flowered .

Declined a bit and then disappeared Don't know what happened but even the tuber is gone now I once grew one of the dwarf types .No problems at all except it took over the entire pond in spite of being potted and I used that pond to grow aquarium plants so removed it

I suspect something ate it as I can think of no other explanation . Took me a long time to find that variety and was rather expensive so don't know if I'll try again Good luck with yours!! gary

Frankielynnsie, Lotus often throw-back to different colour variations but with crossing from 3 varieties you should definitely get some interesting results. They are very easy from seeds but watch out for hungry mouths, many things seem to like eating them when young. And seeds are viable for many years so you can put some aside for later.

Gary, they need a lot of direct sun. Mine get sun until about mid afternoon. But dry season it will be on them a bit longer. The main nursery I go to has a pond with Lotus. Over the years the tree canopy has spread over them and they became spindly with most of them dying off. Now there's only a couple of small leaves and I can't remember seeing them flower these past few years. They multiply rapidly even when small. My single seedling spread throughout the pond while the leaves were still only floating and small. If I stood in the pond now the leaves would be over my head.

You have done well Tropic!

Thanks Marleneann, in a few days I should know just how white my White Lotus is going to be.

Please post a pic ASAP. (I'm getting excited for you)

Tropicbreezent, your pond looks really nice! Envious to see you lotus already has flower bud. My lotus (sprouted last year) is in the pond buried by several feet of snow. I can only hope they will come back and flower like yours this coming summer.

Thanks Sara. Well, the first 2 flowers have opened and I discovered there are in fact four of them, one of those still small. This is when they started to open day before yesterday.

And then yesterday they fully opened.

Some of our local native bees (Trigonula species) are already in there helping themselves to the pollen.

Congratulations!

The flowers have only lasted 3 days, shorter than I thought. But I'm used to seeing them in huge numbers with many flowers. You don't really notice when one individual flower withers and another starts. It seems like the flowers just keep going.

I came across a photo I took of the Lotus when I first planted it in the pond, this was 25 September 2015.

It's really pleasing how fast they grow. Took another photo this morning, 15 February 2016, and measured the size of the leaves. The largest is 2.4 metres tall from soil to tip, and the leaf blade is 75 centimetres across. It still keeps sending up flowers.

Wow, that's amazing and beautiful. Nothing but a few daffodils blooming in this cold right now.

For those who want to germinate seeds, you can also buy the seed pods in the dried flower section at Michaels and possibly other craft stores. The seeds are very hard and must be nicked or sanded before being submerged.

~Sjn

Just an update. The Lotus flowers keep getting taller. This one is 2.7 metres from soil level to the top. I'm thinking I should give it some fertiliser soon.