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All blue water lilies are tropical. |
Place the tuber at an angle with the growing tip above the soil. Cover with an inch of sand to keep the mud from getting into the water. (Cover with gravel if you have koi fish.) Diagram of water lily in a pot. We fertilize below the soil with a generous amount of slow release fertilizer. Water lilies are heavy feeders and stop flowering when they run out of fertilizer. Once in the pond, you can poke more fertilizer down into their soft soil if necessary. We stop fertilizing them about a month before frost so that they have a chance to toughen up for the winter.
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'Dorothy Lamour', small hardy water lily growing in a tub. |
| The last 'Dorothy Lamour' bloom before hard frost in October. |  |
Fertilizer in the water promotes algae growth (green water) but the plants suck the extra nutrients out of the water when they grow. If you have plenty of healthy, growing plants green water is a self correcting problem. (This is known as biological filtration.)
Depth
Newly planted water lilies start better in the warmer, shallower water no more than a few inches above their growing tips. They can be moved deeper once the leaves come up to the surface and spread out. Lower the newly planted pot carefully into the water. The air will bubble out for about a half minute in an alarming, seething volcano. Hardy water lilies start to grow when the water reaches about 60 degrees F. and tropical water lilies grow when the water is about 75 degrees F.
Most water lilies manage to grow in water a few inches to two feet above their pots. If the water is too shallow the leaves stick up and the stems get covered with aphids because the fish can't reach them. If the water is too deep the leaves don't get to the surface. About a foot of water over the growing tip is usually a reasonable depth.
Marginal plants
Marginal and other pond plants come in many shapes and sizes. Some float above the water and some grow below. They vary from tropical to ultra-hardy. Where we live, all tropical plants must become house plants for the winter or they will die. Floating plants take over the whole surface of the pond by the end of the summer and you can no longer see the fish (a big negative in my mind). For marginal plants, a good rule to follow is that each plant should have its own pot. That way they do not have to compete with vigorous neighbors. We prefer a few tall ultra-hardy plants with interesting leaves, like variegated acorus and arrowheads, to give a little height to an otherwise very flat sort of garden. We set these few marginal plants on blocks or 'shelves' so that they reside in a few inches of water around the edge of the pond. Diagram of a pond.
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