In the wet

[gote]

These pictures are a little late and taken just before it started raining for a week.
It is not difficult to grow a pygmaea rubra in a tub of kind provided that one does not use the so called Nymphaea soil.
The white one is marlicaea albida a real stalwart.
The next one is mooerii it is really yellow but the colour is difficult to get out.
Butomus umbellatus can also be grown in a pot quite well but these are of ocurse in the lake.
Cheers - or should I say Splash?  
Göte

[David Nicholson]

Know just how you feel Gote.

[Maggi Young]

For some reason, the picture of N. moorei  from Göte isn't expanding when clicked on, so I'll try reposting it here......

[Onion]

Göte,

what are you doing with the Nymphaea in winter ? Put the tub in the house?

[cohan]

nice stuff!
how big is your lake, is it a natural lake?
i guess the plants out in the open are hardy? the butomus is really nice too..

[Paul T]

Great stuff.  Must be nice to have a large expanse of water to plant these things into.  I am jealous, as it is something I would love to do myself, but can't exactly do it on a corner block in suburbia and those pesky banks don't just give out free money for you to buy a block of land somewhere.    I look forward to your waterlily shots every year, Gote.  Beautiful!!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very nice spot to spend a relaxing afternoon enjoying the nympheas Göte !!! 

[gote]

The lake is about 25 km across and 40 km long. Hjälmaren.
I own a tiny bit of it. I try to grow nymphaeas in an area inside the thick expanse of reed (Phragmites communis). I have cleared an area close to the shore.
Sometimes a glorified rat called Castor fiber visits and has the rhizomes for dinner. 
I have an adjacent pond that the rats do not enter. There I have most of my plants in pots - normal plastic pots. and a few in the bottom mud.
Those that must be taken out like the on in the tub, I put at the bottom of that pond.
The pond is deep enpough so there is no frost at the bottom.

I have found out the hard way that most of the popular lore about how to grow nymphaeas is rubbish.
The special "nymphaea clay" sold in garden centers will kill them. Good fat garden soil grows them well.
Normal plastic pots are perfect - no need to use baskets.
It is meaningless to try to wane newly bought plants by moving them slowly to deeper waters. Young leaf stalks will elongate from the full depth in a couple of days old leaves die off quickly anyway.
The do need sun, however - at least half day.
If the pond freezes all way down they usually die.

Go out and get some fols they are good and beautiful plants

Cheers
Göte       

[cohan]

The lake is about 25 km across and 40 km long. Hjälmaren.
I own a tiny bit of it. I try to grow nymphaeas in an area inside the thick expanse of reed (Phragmites communis). I have cleared an area close to the shore.
Sometimes a glorified rat called Castor fiber visits and has the rhizomes for dinner. 
I have an adjacent pond that the rats do not enter. There I have most of my plants in pots - normal plastic pots. and a few in the bottom mud.
Those that must be taken out like the on in the tub, I put at the bottom of that pond.
The pond is deep enpough so there is no frost at the bottom.

I have found out the hard way that most of the popular lore about how to grow nymphaeas is rubbish.
The special "nymphaea clay" sold in garden centers will kill them. Good fat garden soil grows them well.
Normal plastic pots are perfect - no need to use baskets.
It is meaningless to try to wane newly bought plants by moving them slowly to deeper waters. Young leaf stalks will elongate from the full depth in a couple of days old leaves die off quickly anyway.
The do need sun, however - at least half day.
If the pond freezes all way down they usually die.

Go out and get some fols they are good and beautiful plants

Cheers
Göte       

oh, a real lake! nice...and very convenient you are able to winter those things outside... many here need indoor wintering..

[Paul T]

Göte,

Isn't it amazing how the Nymphaea leaves can just elongate to the length they need to be.  The first couple of times I ever grew them I was amazed that it was a maximum of 48 hours for them to lengthen the stems for deeper water.  It is an amazing adaptation, I'm assuming to allow them to adjust to flood waters covering them at times.

The big problem I have with growing them in pots is that unless you have something heavy in the bottom of the pot the waterlily roots end up weighing less than water due to their oxygen content, and the pots start to float or turn over.  It looks aweful when they do.... so ugly to see the pot floating there.  I find that a half brick in the bottom of the pot works well to weigh them down at planting time.  I just reuse old potting soil when I am repotting, not that I do it very often.  Would love to find more colours of them, but never get around to ordering them from mailorder places.  There are some beautiful forms and colours, that is for sure.

[Lori S.]

Göte,

The big problem I have with growing them in pots is that unless you have something heavy in the bottom of the pot the waterlily roots end up weighing less than water due to their oxygen content, and the pots start to float or turn over. 

Oh my, I sense a market for our fine Calgary clay - waterlily soil is its one fit purpose!    (Float, never... one practically needs a crane to haul the tubs out in fall... )

[gote]

I have difficulties in making them stand well too. sometimes I add some stones in the bottom.
Göte

[Ragged Robin]

In our pond I grew Arum lilies in pots on a brick/bricks to get the right level as they struggle when deep and don't flower in the same way.  I do love seeing their leaves pointing out of the water to the sky and the clean white flower shape.....the waterlilies complement them well and are not so fussy!

(The Arums were grown from plants originally from my Mother and are now 26 years old!)