A National Collection of Hardy Lilies is held at Burnby Hall Garden in Pocklington Yorkshire. They are at their best from June and have a great display through summer. For the home pond the selection of the right water lilies needs great care. They are generally robust plants that are diverse in size and you don’t want too much leaf growth that over shadows the rest of the pond and planting.
Tips on Choosing and Growing Water Lilies
- Young plants should gradually be introduced to deeper water. Mature plants can cope with much deeper water
- The rhisomes of the water lily should not be buried in the planting medium or it will rot. It is a bit like Iris rhisomes that are just proud of the soil with hair roots going down.
- Treat yourself to one or few specimen plants to start with to benefit from the spectacular nature of the plant and leave at least a third of the water surface visible.
- Plants can be grown in big buckets if there is no pond available
- Divide congested plants and plant in fertile soil with trace elements and cover with gravel
- For planting 2 foot deep try Nymphaea Black Princess, a dark prolific red, or the double white ‘Gonnere’ and ‘Perry’s Dwarf Red which is suitable for small ponds.
- For scented flowers look for the Nymphaea Odorata varieties
- There is a wide choice of plants that can be planted 2 ½ - 3′ deep including ‘Virginalis’ & ‘Gladstoneana’ – a couple I haven’t grown but might like to try if I ever get a large enough lake.
- Waterlilies will not flower well and gradually die off in shaded pools and are best sited away from fountains or running water
Visiting Water Lilies
It is not always possible to grow all the plants you would wish too. Therefore it is worth visiting those who specialise in the plants you want to see in good fettle.
Monet’s flower garden at Giverny is internationally famous as the inspiration for his water lily paintings.
Stapeley Water Garden is a good location for seeing and acquiring plants but the best I have seen are at Burnby Hall Yorkshire.
Bennetts water garden in Dorset
Read about Dwarf Water Lilies
