Roll up, Roll up

Hi Everyone, I've just come across this thread and see that some of you have problems with your water lilies, so thought I'd tell you about ours.

First off, our lilies and pond are old. We dug our pond out (by hand!) in 1988, it is about 6 x 8 meters big and about 160 cm at the deepest point. I think we bought the pale pink water lilies the following year from a woman who was doing away with her whole pond, so they were older plants to start with. We bought 3 of them and it turned out to be 1 or 2 too many. Once settled in and growing, most pond plants go beserk and take over. The red one, a dwarf species, was bought quite some years later and it has never really bloomed that well, this year being the first exception. However, it still can't compete with the mad pale pink ones, which will have to be thinned out this year again. Wish you all were within driving distance so you could come and pick them up, along with some other water plants. As it is, they will land on the compost heap, a pity but no one wants them.

At first we put all water plants in baskets with some pond soil mixed with plain old garden soil. We added bits of charcoal, this helps keep the water clear as well as making the soil more suitable. We just raked the charcoal out of our grate, left-overs from log fires. As Watergarden said, "garden soil should not be used because it contains other nutriants and things that make alagae and other undesireables grow". However, we did OK with our method. Oh, just thought, we also put some peat moss in the baskets too - but if you do so, make sure you have a bit of soil and enough gravel on top to stop it swimming to the surface and floating around, it looks awful. Don't make our mistake!

Neither Hubby nor I have ever heard about removing the first flowers on new plants. As to leaves looking rather messy sometimes due to bugs, our pond it too big to get to them so we just leave them to cure themselves. In a small pond, I would probably remove them.

If anyone has any questions, just ask away!


Peapod - to quote, just click on " " (reply with quote) at the end of the first line in the reply you want to quote and it will pop up in your reply box.

 

In my small pond I have a neat small growing yellow variety with a varigated leaf. I bought it when I made our pond in 2000 and because it was a slow growing variety I planted a fast growing common white one which was lovely but far too vigerous.

I divided the yellow one up, chucked the white one, but still have a few clumps in buckets that no one seems to want - I just cut it up like cake and slung it back in with very little compost.



took this for the frog, but flower is lovely too

 

^^^ Aww look at that didy little froggy

Thanks for the info Kedi - I will be referring to it a lot!

 

Waco, I must be blind as a bat as I didn't see your teeny weeny froggy until Gillypetunia pointed it out! Sorry!

You're welcome GP!

 

I have spent quite some time looking at this picture, and only just found the frog! :D
Thanks for allthe info. KG as witha lot of things in gardening it seems we have to hae patience, BUT I've got a bud and I'm certainly not going to remove it!
It's on a variegated lily like Waco's and it looks a pale colour.