Dendrobium Gillieston Jazz 'Steven' x D. (Tosca x Rutherford Starburst) 'Red Wine'

[Cactuseed]

Nice. I have 3 aussie dends from SVO, one similar to this one (Dendrobium Regal Gillieston 'SVO' x Den. speciosum v. curvicaule 'Daylight Moon' FCC/AOC) I only ordered 2 and Fred sent me another as a bonus !
BTW I wish I had your pond, I used to have a nice cement koi pond

[u bada]

Originally Posted by estación seca

The hotter the water, the better water lilies grow and bloom. You see in the photo a hardy white lily sold as Gladstone, but I'm not sure it's properly identified. I've had it since 1986. The tropicals haven't awakened yet.

When it's over 105 F / 41C, though, and humidity is low, some petal edges brown slightly. If I keep up the fertilizer regimen each plant has 3-4 flowers open every day from when it gets hot to first frost (if any.)

My pond is 4 feet / 1.27m deep, with half below ground to keep it cooler in summer and warmer in winter. I wanted it elevated so I could sit on the edge and smell the delicious tropical water lily fragrance. Also, the deeper the water, the farther the tropical lilies stand out of the water. I stand the 5 gallon / 19 liter tropical pots on bricks in the spring to get going near the warm surface, then lower them to the bottom. I can stand in the pond, bend over, and grasp the pot edges with my chin in the water, but my mouth in the air.

It froze over just once, the extreme freeze of December 1990. I have paper photos of a frozen Albert Greenberg flower standing high above the frozen surface.

I would never be without at least one tropical water lily, for the fragrance. There are a few that will bloom in a half barrel. The blue ones are true blue, and tolerate a little shade. The other colors need at least 6 hours of direct sun to bloom in most climates.

It's too hot here to grow lotus (Nelumbo) in the sun. I'm told they survive in 50% shade here, but I don't have a dog-proof shady area. Dogs will stick their faces into water to pull out and eat lotus tubers, which are quite expensive.

When I was a kid i grew tropical lilies in a half barrel... my fav was this dwarf dauben blue or something like that, i did a search and I couldn't find anything like that... beautiful blue, day blooming, and fragrant... didn't know they can handle that kind of heat at all, but good to know! With the few projects i've used waterlilies, i'd end up with the hardies even out here because the tropicals don't even start emerging til it's "warm", like regularly 80... guess it all makes sense!

That's great to have a deep pond... helps with climate control under the water I'm sure... and the depth helps with algae and prettiness (the dark bottomlessness makes a pool gorgeous).

Funny I just had lotus root in a tempura dish I ordered last night, hadn't had any in a while, made me remember I wanted to reply to this still... I had not known they they couldn't handle full sun like yours... I've only tried growing a dwarf one, forget the name, in a large ceramic pot, and it never really grew, it was in full sun but hey it is different than your full sun, but maybe the water got to hot? possibly maybe... thanks for that bit of info. There was a beautiful restoration just recently project that brought back nelumbo to a public park lake here where it died for various reasons. I love lotus very much.

[estación seca]

I read articles in the LA Times about the Echo Park lake lotus revival. How wonderful!

The pink and white Asian lotus Nelumbo nuciferum is a hot-water plant. I wouldn't think they would mind water up to the low 110s F / 45C. The North American N. lutea does fine with somewhat cooler water.

They strongly resent root disturbance at any time. Next time sprout your own seed, plant it in the final container and stand back. This isn't the place for describing growing them from seed, but the information is easy to find online.

[u bada]

I know the guy who restored it... it's quite a story! I took lovely photos of it last summer on an odd summer rainy day... the flowers were closed because of it, but still beautiful...

It was probably the root disturbance then that killed the poor guy... again, thx as always for your info.

[estación seca]

I forgot to mention... Dauben is still a widely-available blue water lily that will bloom in smallish containers, and blooms in part shade. I haven't grown it for a while because I prefer the huge blue Pamela (water lily.)

Van Ness Water Garden: Blue Tropical Day Bloomers

Texas Water Lilies

[Tindomul]

I don't think I have ever seen a Dendrobium with sepals like that. Cool.