Lilies are a MUST for your pond!
The roots of water lilies are called “rhizomes” and often referred to as “tubers”.
I recommend fertilizing them each month to keep blooms vigorous!
This is a cluster of Juan Vista Lily flowers
Water Lily Flowering Habits
Flowers come up and open mid morning and close mid afternoon. They re open for roughly 4 days and then they die back. Soon there will be new blooms! Flowers often bloom from June until September.
Water Lily Spread Habits
Water lilies can spread rapidly through a pond even going 15 feet in 5 years. It helps to have them in a pot because you can more easily pull them out for fertilization. But more importantly, you can pull them out to divide the tuber and either remove it so the lilies don’t get over crowded or repot for new lilies.
How to Water Lilies Benefit the Pond?
So Many benefits!
#1 – Lily pads provide shade that helps keep the water temperature from getting super hot. Hotter water contributes to more algae.
#2 – Fish can get sunburned! I’m not kidding! Fish need both sun (helps keep their colors vibrant) and shade.
#3 – Predator protection. With all that cover, it’s harder for predators to spot and snatch up the fish. Add lilies to your pond for a win-win. They beautify the space and make it a safer, healthier environment for your aquatic friends. I’m not saying predators will be no issue, but it does help a lot. They can’t eat what they can’t see!
#4 – Lilies contribute to filtrations by using nutrients in the water that algae would otherwise feast on. Remember that you need a variety of plants for best filtration!
Can I Have Water Lilies with Koi?
YES YOU CAN! I’ve had lilies with koi for years with no problems. That being said, sometimes the koi will pull the lilies out of the pots or even tear them up!
If koi are bothering the water lilies make sure you are feeding them enough. Young koi from 1 to 3 years, should be eating 2 to 3% of their weight in food. If the koi are over 4 years old they may only need 1% of their body weight. Most of their growth happens in the 1st three years.
Those calculations can get complicated, so for most pond owners we go with simplicity. Feed them what they can eat in about 3 minutes. Want to find out the nitty gritty and go crazy with this? Check out THIS ARTICLE.
If you have Tasmanian devil koi, you may need to protect the lily plant with a specialized nets that cover from pot to the water surface. Nycon makes some floating plant protectors that work well.
Read about how to pot lilies below and that will help them to not be pulled out of their pots by curious fish.
Potting Water Lilies
When you purchase a water lily at a nursery, it may come in a very small pot. You need to put it in a 12″ or larger pot with the right soil. Ideally 14 to 16 inches. I don’t prefer the mesh pots because the roots grow through them, making it really hard to repot without damaging the roots as you try to cut off the plastic mesh.
Fabric pots aren’t my favorite either because once they have been in the pond for a while they are super hard to get a hold of and pull the plant out. I’ve dumped over several this way because of slippery material pots.
A large plastic tub, wider than it is tall with a good lip edge on it make it far easier to get lily pots in and out of the pond.
If you have purchased rather small pots of lilies, you can begin with setting it at about 6 inches deep. As the plant matures, you can gradually lower it to 24 inches below the water’s surface. If your pond is deeper than this, simply prop up the lily’s pot on an inverted pot to bring it to the right depth. While they can live with a pot 4 feet down, they have smaller lily pads and less flowers.
This particular pot isn’t as wide as we like to see and it has holes in the bottom. We prefer to use wide pots with no holes.
Trimming Water Lilies
Water lily leaves typically last between 3 to 4 weeks. When they start to turn yellow or brown, that’s your cue to remove them. When the pads turn brown they just need a quick tug and they will come right off.
If your lilies have suffered hail damage, hold off on removing those damaged pads immediately. Despite their appearance, they are still photosynthesizing and providing energy to the plant. The plant will soon produce new pads to replace them. Cut one off, when it is replaced, cut off another.
As for the flowers, once they’ve spent, it’s a good idea to trim them off. This encourages the plant to produce more blooms. Ok, this is a good idea but let’s be real – I am not getting into the pond all the time to cut off dead flowers. They don’t come off easily until they are totally brown. So if you want to leave them- leave them!
Not sure if you are looking at a new bud or an old one? Gently lift it out of the water and give it a quick, gentle squeeze. If it squirts out water, it’s past its prime. On the other hand, a firm bud that doesn’t release water is new!
Repotting Water Lilies
Every 2 or 3 years, your water lilies will need to be divided to keep them healthy and blooming beautifully. Fall is the ideal time to do this.
When they are putting out much smaller leaves or tubers are trying to jump the pot, it’s time!
Pull the whole pot out to a spot where you can comfortably work.
First, trim off all the undersized pads right at the base. Then, remove the tuber from the pot and look for the nodes (these look similar to the eyes on a potato). Cut these off to refocus the plant’s energy on producing larger leaves and flowers.
When the tuber is getting larger than the pot, you’ll need to separate the rhizomes. You can cut them into pieces for new lilies. Just make sure each piece has an “eye” on it like a potato that is trying to grow on your kitchen counter. If any part is soft or mushy, cut it off and throw it out.
Repot as described above.
Lily pads are supposed to float on the top of the water. If they are over crowded you’ll see them layering up and out of the water. Over crowding can contribute to aphid infestation.
Water Lily Soil
Do not use regular potting soil, the stuff will float right out into the pond! We use a mixture of sand, clay soil and bit of cat litter.
Start by planting the rhizome (that’s the part of the plant that grows horizontally underground) with the growing tip (where the plant is coming out) near the edge of the pot. This allows the rest of the rhizome plenty of room to spread out. I put hand sized stones on the top of the soil (but not over the crown of the plant that should be sticking out of the dirt) to give more weights so koi can’t mess with it.
To give your lilies a boost, pop 2 or 3 fertilizer tablets into the soil, which will help you get the best color out of those blooms. Read the instructions on the bag to know exactly how many for your pot size.
Water Lily Types - Tropical or Hardy
There are “hardy” water lilies and “tropical” water lilies. Here in Colorado you can experiment with both, but it’s the hardy lilies that will return each year looking gorgeous!
Tropical lilies usually have serrated edges and may have some stunning flower colors. Because they need a higher water temperature to bloom, you may get less blooms over the season.
Their pots must be moved indoors in room temperature water to over winter. Otherwise, they die in the pond when the cold weather hits.
After the winter when spring comes, the first leaves that emerge from a lily pad are usually smaller, often taking on a darker, reddish hue. As the season progresses, larger green leaves will appear.
Do not use regular potting soil, the stuff will float right out into the pond! We use a mixture of sand, clay soil and bit of cat litter.
Start by planting the rhizome (that’s the part of the plant that grows horizontally underground) with the growing tip (where the plant is coming out) near the edge of the pot. This allows the rest of the rhizome plenty of room to spread out. I put hand sized stones on the top of the soil (but not over the crown of the plant that should be sticking out of the dirt) to give more weights so koi can’t mess with it.
To give your lilies a boost, pop 2 or 3 fertilizer tablets into the soil, which will help you get the best color out of those blooms. Read the instructions on the bag to know exactly how many for your pot size.
Got Water Lilies?
If not you need them! Think you pond is too shallow? Most lilies will still grow in 12 inches of water, but they do need to be well below the ice during the winter to make it to the next year. Did you know there are miniature water lilies that are perfect for smaller ponds? There are!
Want a very classic look with all white lilies? Do it.
Want a variety of colors everyday? Put in different colors!
