Hardy Water Lilies

Water lilies that float on the pond's surface, with sublimely scented blooms waving between the pads are one of the biggest reasons we love our ponds. There is nothing like a water lily to evoke memories of vacations near mountain lakes where the hardy water lily thrives.

When we think of water lilies, we think of tropical plants, but hardy water lilies grow most everywhere there is a lake or bayou. They are nothing but invasive aquatic weeds, but are so beautiful, we want them in our ponds. Let's talk about hardy water lilies and how to take care of them.

The hardy water lilies or nymphea are tough. They will survive anything except being frozen solid. The water lilies you see in the accompanying photograph are found at 11,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. About the only thing the hardy water lily needs when in your pond is the pruning off of the dead leaves and blooms in the summer. And that's more for the health of the pond than the health of the water lilies. The outer rim of leaves need to be trimmed as well as they begin to die. The leaves grow in a circular pattern as they emerge from the pot. The new ones push the old ones to the outside of the circle and after a couple of weeks, the old ones show their age and then die. Pick them off near the base of the plant. Pinch the dead flowers off at the same time. If you feed them then, you are only having to climb in the pond once a month. Not only do the water lilies look lovely, they help the pond stay healthy. The pads add shade to give the fish a place to hide, keep the algae growth down, the water temperature down and keep the anacharis in the shade.

Hardy water lilies always bloom during daylight hours. They open about mid morning and close in late afternoon. If you work in a downtown office, you will only be able to see your water lilies in bloom on weekends. There are night bloomers, but they are not hardy water lilies, but tropical ones that need a bit more care and much warmer temperatures.

All water lilies need a minimum of five, preferably six hours a day to bloom. If your pond gets less than five hours of sun, you will see lily pads, but no flowers. Blooms appear for about 3 days and then die. By that time, more buds are on their way from the pot and will be open soon. It is not unusual to have many blooms open at one time.

When you place the water lily in the water keep it away from your waterfall or fountain. Lilies hate moving water and if the water falls on them from the splashing of the waterfall or fountain, the leaves will die and possibly kill the plant altogether.

When you put the lily in your pond, put it at least 18" deep if you can. 30" is even better. The stems get longer and the pads reach the top of the water when the pot is deeper in the water.

Fertilize the water lily every 14 days to a month for more blooms. They will love you for it. Use an aquatic plant fertilizer in a tablet form and just push the tab into the soil or planting medium with your thumb. Use one tab per gallon of pot.

Early in my pond building career, you had one choice of water lily color - yellow. They were pretty, but the water lily growers were hard at work hybridizing the plant. Now you have choices of colors from red to orange to yellow and white with some changing colors from day to day.

Hardy lilies come in sizes from rather small for the small pond to huge creatures that will spread 25' or so. You can tell a hardy lily from a tropical one because the pads are round and the flowers are closer to the water.

One caveat for the natural pond owner about hardy water lilies. Remember these are weeds. If the roots start spreading in your natural bottom pond, soon they will overtake the pond and you will be either wading around with a rake or in a boat with a rake trying to tame your pond. Keep the lilies in a pot and divide them often so they do not jump out of the pot and into the surrounding clay bottom.