My orchid pond.

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

There is a water garden place in Ontario that carries
tropical water lilies. I think they are around $45. I wouldn't pay that for an annual. My pond is too large to heat, it would be expensive. I used to have a beautiful lotus in Ontario. The one problem I had with it is that it needs to be grown in a huge pot which was difficult to move. There I would sink it to the bottom of the pond for the winter.

That certainly is a bit much.

I got this one for $25 which is around what I would pay for a large showy annual.

This pound is tiny and easily heated.
It takes one large aquarium heater lol.
Though it's almost time to take It out.
I have it in to help the scrawny goldfish from the store survive until I fatten them up lol.

My one hardy lily is taking forever to grow.
I'm wondering if the soil is poor quality.

I'm really lost on what kind of soil to get though.


I have a lotus as well...
Have you heard of exquisite teacup of the bowl lotus?
Think dwarf.
Mine is called "babydoll" and its got lovely fragrant white flowers and only reached 1.5 feet tall..
It's quite small..

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[Vanda lover]

Originally Posted by Ordphien

That certainly is a bit much.

I got this one for $25 which is around what I would pay for a large showy annual.

This pound is tiny and easily heated.
It takes one large aquarium heater lol.
Though it's almost time to take It out.
I have it in to help the scrawny goldfish from the store survive until I fatten them up lol.

My one hardy lily is taking forever to grow.
I'm wondering if the soil is poor quality.

I'm really lost on what kind of soil to get though.


I have a lotus as well...
Have you heard of exquisite teacup of the bowl lotus?
Think dwarf.
Mine is called "babydoll" and its got lovely fragrant white flowers and only reached 1.5 feet tall..
It's quite small..

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A heavy clay soil works best for water lilies but it is important to feed them. I found out the hard way that the soil here is completely wrong. It makes a mess of the pond. Here we use sand and either water lily fertilizer or bury slow release like you use for your annuals, nutricote or such. I bought some little baskets on ebay that are for this purpose. Then put a layer of gravel on top to keep the fish from digging around.

---------- Post added at 12:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------

I forgot to mention the lotus. No, I haven't heard of the dwarf ones. I should look into that. The huge flowers and leaves on the big ones are impressive. I have watched birds drinking from them.

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

A heavy clay soil works best for water lilies but it is important to feed them. I found out the hard way that the soil here is completely wrong. It makes a mess of the pond. Here we use sand and either water lily fertilizer or bury slow release like you use for your annuals, nutricote or such. I bought some little baskets on ebay that are for this purpose. Then put a layer of gravel on top to keep the fish from digging around.

---------- Post added at 12:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------

I forgot to mention the lotus. No, I haven't heard of the dwarf ones. I should look into that. The huge flowers and leaves on the big ones are impressive. I have watched birds drinking from them.

Hmm....
That's what I planted my one hardy in and its not really doing much.
And I use lily specific fertiliser tabs...
This is its first year though.
I ordered it really late in summer last year and never got to see it flower.
Actually it shrank severely in size and aborted it's flowers.
And now it's going really slow...

Maybe I'm too quick to judge.


Google them!

My babydoll lotus is tiny in comparison but it still gets fairly large leaves and flowers.


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[Vanda lover]

The little lotus sounds great. I will look into it. I'm not sure if I could get one here on the Island though, and it costs an arm and a leg for shipping.

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by Vanda lover

The little lotus sounds great. I will look into it. I'm not sure if I could get one here on the Island though, and it costs an arm and a leg for shipping.

I hope you find one.
If you want one.

They have different types and colours, I just went with babydoll..
Not sure if pondmegastore ships to Canada... that's where I got mine....

You live in an island? That's cool....
I've always wanted to love on an island.
Not a tropical island though... I loathe the tropics..
Well... I loathe heat and humidity.
The tropics themselves are beautiful.

I kind of understand your pain.
I'm sure shipping to you costs more, but alot of extra charges are added in when you ship to California.

My last order online added $40 on top of the $30 shipping fee because it was coming here.
Plus the actual order....


How should I be fertilising my hardy lily?

What schedule should I keep it on?

It's making lots and lots of leaves under the water. But none have felt inclined to reach for the surface.




Also considering adding in a night blooming lily...
The dauben is great but it doesn't open till 12 and it closes around 5.
I would like something that fills in the gap.

Is that too many lilies though?
In concerned that it might not bloom due to lack of light. And it will over crowd the pond.
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[Vanda lover]

With the slow release fertilizer you only need to fertilize once. I took a guess on the amount, judging by the instructions on the container. I actually filled a couple of fertilizer baskets for my largest containers and one for the small.
There is one water garden place here that may have the lotus. I remember seeing some when we were there a couple of years ago.
We are on a large island and we have a milder climate then most of Canada because of the ocean currents. It's rain forest and mountains. Really pretty.

[Ordphien]

Originally Posted by waretrop

I hate using pesticides on my plants or in my greenhouse but after the first year in my tropical world, I had a good length of nude plants. I hand picked for hours every day. I gave up. I now use very sparingly, whatever works. I locate the plant in a special spraying corner where it stays for a few days waiting for respray.Then they get a good shower before they go back to thier origional place. At any hint of a bug and out comes the spray. I have a pond with waterfall in one end of the greenhouse with koi in it so I do have to be careful about killing them.

Did you comment?
I'm trying to view this comment but don't are it anywhere?
This is what happens when I tried quoting vandalover...
Lol...

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[Ordphien]

I have no idea if mine is slow release or not...
I'll have to check...

Lotus are amazing and I fully encourage spending money on one...
Even if it's not an orchid lol...


So essentially... you live in my ideal location.
Can we trade houses for a month? Like that one movie..

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[Ordphien]

Ok so... scouted out the cattleya scene...
Lowe's has them and only Lowe's.
They $30... but they do come with tags...
I saw one in interested in... but for me.. not the pond lol.
Might be getting those in installments lol...
Also... considering a log twisting around the waterfall... mounted with oncidium intergenerics. And a few catts.
I also think that when my local nursery gets some max tenuifolia in ill try one of those

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[Ordphien]

Oops...
Also my water lily had opened a second flower. And a third bud.
The second flower is much bluer than the first.
I heard the more shade they get the more blue.
I'm really enjoying this lily...
Still not sure if I want another dauben... or a night blooming lily.
I'm not sure I can find a night blooming lily suitable enough. Meaning small and shade tolerant lol.
Here's some comparison photos and a shot of the pond.


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