Water Lilly and Tropical Lillies

Pond owners say the Water Lilly plant is a must have when choosing your water garden plants. They come in many varieties and make a beautiful addititon to your Koi pond designs.

Water lillies bloom throughout the summer months, and many have mottled or speckled foliage. They are quick to root and they provide cover and shade for your Koi fish.

When building your Koi garden pond one thing to keep in mind if you want Water lillies is, they must have at least six hours of sunlight per day.

In colder climates and backyard ponds with limited sunlight, lillies can be raised off the bottom to the warmer surface water (6 to 10 inches deep) in the summer months to trick them into believing they are closer to the sun, which will extend the growing season and induce more flowering.

Hardy water lillies reward the owner year after year with plentiful foliage and flowers colored white, yellow, peach, pink, and red.

There are a number of different tuber types, the favored being those that have compact, clump forming, or marliac type tubers. They are more content in a water containers and less likely to jump the pot and keep gong.

Night Bloomers are usually the last Water Lilly to begin flowering for the season. The flowers on the night bloomers open in late afternoon and close the following morning.

Night bloomers flowers are larger then the day bloomers. The only colors night bloomers have available are white, red and pink. The white and pink night bloomers are the best at catching the moon light. Reds are the most popular night bloomer because of its intense color.

Some night bloomers are:

• Nymphaea ‘Antares’ – It has rich, dark red flowers deep olive leaves
• Nymphaea ‘Wood’s White Knight’ – the flower is pure white
• Nymphaea ‘Rose de Noche’ – This is an excellent night bloomer with rich pink flowers.

Koi fish and water lillies are a natural combination and it happens that the Koi fish do not unduly bother with the lillies so these are often a feature of their ponds. They have the extra benefit of providing shade for the Koi fish during warm weather and the Koi fish will browse under their spread leaves nibbling any attached grubs and insects on these.

Lillies are available in many cultivated varieties and include types that are best planted in shallow water (dwarf lillies), those which prefer the mid-levels and finally the true deep water species. It is always better if lillies are placed into baskets so that their substrate does not get sc attered all over the pond, and the growing media can be covered with suitably sized pepples that are too large for Koi fish to dislodge.

Lillies are available in very many colors these days and a visit to your Koi fish dealer or horticulturist will reveal the types recommended for your area and size of your pond.

One thing to keep in mind when deciding on lillies for you Koi fish pond is that lillies rarely compliment the Koi, in most cases they can actually detract from the Koi fish because they compete with them for color. The backdrop for Koi is best seen in Japanese gardens which feature many shades of greens and browns, and these are usually in the form of conifers and small trees.