These pictures were taken 6 or 7 years after the pond was built. I started with 4 different lily plants bought at Lowes, The pink, yellow, and white did fine, but the orange died. A couple years later, a friend then gave us a bunch of nicer flowering ones from his pond, which also mostly did well. The best performer has been the pink from Lowes. One of the reds is really nice, but not so hardy. I have dug and transplanted yearly from this initial stock, into this pond, a couple wetlands, and a friends pond. One of the wetlands and the friends pond has lilies doing well, but a couple deeper wetlands near our stream have been tough on them. The turtles and crayfish are my best guess at the culprits, but keeping the muskrats out has also been a continuing challenge. The pond in the pictures gets fewer plant eaters in it and can tolerate more damage without showing it. The pond in the picture has significantly more water lilies now due to continuing transplanting, and will be where we get transplants for the new pond. It is quite nice to sit on our dock during mornings when they are all blooming along with the iris, pickerelweed, and other flowers. A great stress reliever!
