Hardy Water Lilies

Hardy Water Lilies

Water lilies in your water garden will surely make a difference in the scenery that you adore and love so much. Hardy water lilies are first seen growing in the spring months, and they can live in smaller four to six inch pots along the shallow ends or portions of your water garden.

As the plant grows you can move it to deeper portions of the water if you like. Moving the pot back out to the shallow ends over the fall or into the winter will force your lilies into hibernation for the colder months.

Water lilies grow best in a mesh type pot or a basket made out of wire fencing. The wire will allow the roots to get all of the nutrients and oxygen that they need while containing the plant so that it will not over take your water garden.

One thing that you have to be a bit careful with when using wire fencing or wire mesh in the water is that over the course of a year it can get rusty, from oxidizing, and could cut you when handing the rusty oxidized mesh in the fall months.

When you have a new hardy lily that you are planting in a pot, you need to put the root at an angle in the pot. A forty five degree angle gives the plant a good balance as it grows so that they roots will seek out additional nutrients in the soil as it grows forcing the roots to grow out instead of down.

The larger the pot, as large as you can easily pick up and move will be the best size for the water lily. If you can manage a commercial size pot this would be ideal. When planting water lilies, you are not going to need or want any peat additives, as the water lily does not need this to grow. Bone meal is a wonderful additive for water lilies to thrive.

When planting in containers in the water garden be sure to top off your containers with a layer of pea gravel. You should really avoid using colored or decorative stone as this can harm the water and your fish. The pea gravel also keeps the fish from working their way into your containers destroying your water lilies, or any other type of container plants in the water garden.