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.
