Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants Hybrid water lilies

B. Morris - Hybrid water lilies are crosses between established varieties to achieve desired plant traits; most often flower color, size or petal arrangement or number. The hybrids are often grouped into three spreading catagories. Small (dwarf), medium & large. Those designations also I find are estimates of how deep they will grow. Small, I find, usually grows in less than 3 ft of water, Medium will grow 2-4ft deep and large will grow down to 6-8 ft deep, usu depending on water clarity. How fast they grow and spread is dependant on the hardness of the pond bottom soil. Obviously softer sediments promote faster spreading. Hard packed clay pond bottom does not allow very fast spread of the lilies. Water plants tend to make the water clearer to promote their depth of spread. IMPORTANT NOTE: I almost always encounter "piggy back" invasive plant species in potted lilies or tangled in the roots. These "piggy back " plants are always something you do not want in your pond! Be careful. I always advise a quarantine of all lilies before planting them in the pond. A quarantine for me is first planting them in a dish pan or cut off bottom of a 5 gal bucket for several months or 1 yr.to check for other growing contaminated plants. B. cody