Anyone? I've poked the container with a stick and there's lots of soil available. I didn't use my deicer all winter like I usually do, but rather just used it when it was needed to keep a hole open in the ice. But they are hardy, right? And it was 24" below the surface, so that should have been okay, right? I fertilized it about 3-4 weeks ago and again today. I just can't imagine that it's just being slow. I'm trying to decide if I should buy a new one, but don't want 2, if this one is still viable. (not enough room). And now is the time to get it going.

I'm not in your growing zone, but have some questions for you. How does the tuber look and feel? Here there are always (even in winter) tiny pads on the tuber itself, really just a frill of growth right at the growing points. When it begins to warm in spring, the pads start growing to the surface. I never fertilize before I have active growth and then I pull the lily pots up and clear the debris from my oaks that tends to accumulate and push the fertilizer pieces down into the soil. I check for dead spongy tubers when I clear debris and toss any into the compost, keeping only the firm tubers. If you have growth and healthy firm tubers can you lift the pots closer to the surface?

Thanks PKponder. This weekend my husband is going to pull the container up and I can check out the tuber. Every spring for about 10 years, this lily has grown early and well, even after thinning.....which is why I'm a bit concerned. Maybe I shouldn't have fertilized it yet, but I always have done it early before. Putting it closer up to the water surface is a good idea. I can just put it on a milk crate and lower it when/if it grows more. Oh....one more question. this is the first year that we have bullfrogs and not just green frogs. Do they eat the plants? I'm thinking no, but I've heard they eat lots of things....like birds.

Thanks for your help!

I don't believe that bullfrogs eat plants. Maybe the tadpoles do.

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Lithobates_catesbeianus/

Thanks for that link PKponder.

What's the verdict Catherine?

Well, my husband couldn't help me pull it out of the pond just yet, so I bought another lily and am waiting for it to grow a bit more before I put it in the in-ground pond. There's still no signs of life from one lily, but when my husband pulls it out when the other one is ready to go in, I will see if any of it is viable. I don't want to pull it out just yet, since there's nothing much else in my little pond, but I have a number of frogs, and it might give them a better place to hide. I hope I can somehow salvage it, since I've had it for so long.........It's a Rose Arey.

We're feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. We have about 35 acres and a lot of rain and everything is growing like crazy, especially the weeds (but not the original water lily...haha).

I do have a miniature lotus in a 40 gallon container, and it's doing great. I also have a lotus bog (a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stocktank sunk into the ground and filled with soil) and it's growing. We're just trying to keep our heads above the weeds......which sometimes we can do, and other times not!

I'll let you know what I find when I do finally pull it out of the water. I do appreciate your suggestions, even though I'm a little slow at following them! :)

Thanks for asking.

No worries, I was just wondering what the outcome was. I was feeling overwhelmed by weeds last month.

:) Our weeds grow big enough for firewood!

If you can get it close to the surface it may grow. Mine in Texas (not Rose Arey but Colorado and Texas Dawn) send up pads in early spring. I've lost some over the years, they just stopped coming back. Maybe they have finished their lifespan?

Thanks PK. I don't think this little one is going to make it. I think you're right.......sometimes, they just quit.....sort of like us humans. The new ones are doing well, so I guess it was time to give it up to the next generation. On another subject, I think I scared my bullfrogs away when I cleaned my pump last week. Maybe their house just wasn't to their liking. We do live close to a large creek, so they probably moved on. Sure was looking forward to hearing them on those hot, humid August nights, when the night sounds are like a symphony to me.

The bullfrogs may be back. One year we had leopard frogs breeding. Their 'song' was deafening and recently my neighbor asked what happened to our frog noisemaker. She thought that it was an artificial noise :-) Thankfully they've moved on to someone else pond.

LOL about your neighbor! Maybe I just haven't had the worst-sounding frogs, but I would take that "noise" over human noise ANY day! I have tree frogs that sing and I'm sure they would drive others nuts, but I have my window open and let them sing me to sleep. But I know some people who ask on the ponding forums, "What's that noise in the woods that sounds like a woman screaming?!" hahaha There are probably a number of frogs that sound like that. Wouldn't bother me though. :)