I'll share my 2017 waterlily experience and plan going fwd. Last spring I bought approx 40 waterlilies from Texaswaterlilies.com on a recommendation I saw here. They sent me beautiful plants that were packaged perfectly. They were sent with full leaves/pads so they made figuring out "which way is up" very simple. I'll be buying more from them this spring. I planted them directly into the pond in groups of 5-7 plants and they looked great. I felt terrible a few weeks later watching geese tear them up. Then I noticed deer falling in love with them. Finally last fall I had a muskrat wipe out a couple of nice established 1st yr clumps. What I learned was that they need something to anchor and protect them if you plant direct in the pond because all parts of the plant are vulnerable. Several times I found entire plants floating in the pond after deer and geese uprooted them. I will use an 18"x18" grate made of 2" cattle panel and place it over the planting area then cover it with rock to protect the rooted area. I'll also add chicken wire up to the surface just to at least deter swimming critters and geese. After 2 yrs I plan to take all of that out.
FWIW, here's a pallet structure I'm sinking this spring. It's stuffed with an artificial Christmas tree and has a mixing tub planter mounted on top to grow waterlilies. This is going to sit in and area where the tub is about 24-30" from the surface and I'll plant using pond soil/clay before covering with rock and a grate. I hope to gain a couple things by doing this -
1) let's me know right where this structure is 2) I hope access to the plants is less attractive to some critters (deer) 3) I want to use it as a propagation planter and divide from what grows in it.
