water lily

How I plant my water lilies:

Hardy water lilies grow off a rhizome that can be split up in spring.

The size of the pot will depend on the depth of your pond. I use very large plastic pots (+- 60cm high) as they fit perfectly into the space I have allocated to the lilies in my pond.

I use a clay based topsoil mixture with a water lily fertilizer tablet as plating medium. Place the rhizome in the potting mixture at a depth that will cover 50% of the rhizome with soil. This allows the lily to shoot all along the rhizome giving you a full lily.

I then cover the rest of the soil with pebbles or gravel to prevent the koi from getting to the rhizome. Slowly lower the pot into the pond. The moment the top of the pot is covered by water there will be a lot of gas venting from the soil and this will cloud the water.

Soon the lily will start to grow and you can enjoy the stunning flowers!

For photos of my pond and lilies take a look at http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?t=95