Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Detective Erika

I've added a new hardy tropical cross waterlily to my 3 Kirk Strawn hardy lily strains. The flower on this one is purple with a golden center, and is supposed to survive our winters.

I bought 2 from Pond Megastore, and both were in great shape on arrival.


I do a 1/3 mix of garden soil, not potting soil, with our sandy loam, then cover the tuber with 3-4" of sandy loam. I use garden soil for 2 reasons. One, it's less likely float because of the low amount of organics, and two, I don't want organics that may rot over time. Having active stems and leafs makes it easy to set the plant correctly.


Once planted, I slowly fill the bucket with water so that the air wont explode the soil if pushed under water. I get a stick and poke holes in the soil and continue to add water until the bubbles stop. When the bubbles stop, it's safe to place the bucket under water.


I set the buckets, and will slowly move them deeper, as flowers pop up. The bucket on the left already has 2 new leafs. Once flowers show up, I'll replant them into square 24X36 drywall mixing tubs. I've found that moving the square tubs underwater is much easier than moving round ones.


If these lilies make it through winter, I'll split and add them to my existing shoreline lilies. These pics were taken on a cloudy day, so the flowers aren't showing off.

Bingo, time to replant. First lily with blue in it.

Many years ago I had a vision or having lily beds very similar to yours. I bought about $600.00 worth of plants and gleefully put them in pots and into the pond. The next morning they were all gone. I relive the experience when I occasionally find a floating pot or see pics of thriving plants from one end of a pond to the other. Looks like those lily beds go on and on for at least a mile. I'm sick with envy.

So I pulled them last week and got them planted. I planted one at 18", and one at 24". I'm hoping they get through winter, but if either makes it, my money's on the one buried 24". The pond's down around 2', so I'm thinking 3' to 4' down is about where they'll be during winter. They have excelled over summer, and I hope they do the same next year.

I like the cheap concrete tubs because they float ark like.


This one's settled in. I planted both plants inside the other hybrid lilies to protct them from grass carp. Historically, here at least, they munch on the plants easiest to get to.

The GC avoid the shallow water near the bank, and I've had no problems lily wise with Muskrats or Beavers. I've got multiple brush piles, and beaver focused on those. What I did have rhizome problems with was Nutrias. I handled those.

Bingo

Erika made it through Summer droughts, 98 degree water, and 3-4" of ice. The flower just popped up, and the water's just above 70 degrees, while the leaves had been up for over a month. The flower color is a little lighter, but there was no sun, and later flowers may be as dark as last year's.

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