How to Grow Waterlilies

Water lilies are one of the most beautiful plants you can grow in your pond. They are not difficult to grow. This is how:

Instructions

1. 

   Buy your water lily plant and pot it up into the largest container you can find. The pot will be better without holes for the roots to escape from. Water lilies grow in a long, spreading rhizome -- like an iris. As a result you want as wide a pot as possible to allow them to creep. Your water lily will never grow big if kept in a one-gallon pot or smaller.

2. 

   Use a clay soil which won't float away. Anchor the base of the water lily root a couple of inches into the soil and allow the growth tip to protrude just above the soil level. I prefer to cover the top of the soil with an inch or so of gravel. It looks neater and it tends to hold the soil in place. But it isn't necessary.

3. When the pant is small, you can sink it about 6" - 10" deep until it has grown several floating leaves. Then you can set the pot deeper in the water. Most water lilies do best at between 18" and 30" deep.

4. 

   Pick off dead leaves and when a flower finishes, pinch it off if you can before it sinks down into the pond and creates more rotting material in the water. If you see ants farming aphids onto the leaves, simply wash the leaves off with a stream of hose water.

5. Note that there is a more tender variety of water lilies that are called 'tropical' These have some blues and brilliantly colored flowers as well as unusually patterned leaves and they hold the flowers a few inches higher above the water than the usual water lily. They cannot handle any frost.

   The more common water lily also comes in a huge variety of colors and leaf patterns and is more accepting of cold winter temperatures.

6. In the winter, sink the pots all the way to the bottom of the pond to keep them from freezing. If your pond will freeze to the bottom, you will have to remove both plants and fish. Most ponds only freeze on the tops.

7. In early spring the plants will begin to sprout again. This is the best time to trim them, clean them or divide them if they are spilling over the edges of the pots. You can feed them monthly or use an annual feeder. Most water plant food comes in sticks that you simply push into the soil. Now sit back and watch your wonderful fast-growing waterlily unfurl its beauty!