Pond Plants - Water Lilies and Lotus Plants!

Planting water lilies, lotuses, and other deep-water plants is a great way to add a splash of color to your landscape.  Often planted in pots at the bottom of the pond, water lilies and their look-alike cousins, lotuses, send up leaves that float on the surface of the pond.  Similar to floaters (plants that float on the surface, dangling their roots beneath them), their leaves provide harbor for fish and shade for the water, lowering temperatures and helping to control oxygen-eating algae, which thrives in direct sunlight. 

Water lilies come in two basic types: tropical and hardy.  Tropical water lilies grow from tubers and are prolific bloomers.  Their blossoms are suspended on stems rising above the water surface.

Hardy water lilies grow from rhizomes and are somewhat less showy.  Their blossoms are smaller and float on or near the water’s surface. 

Although tropical water lilies are showier, they can’t sustain temperatures much below 60 degrees F., so unless you’re willing to provide protection for them when the temperatures begin to fall, stick to hardy lilies.

How do you protect tropical lilies from freezing?  There are two basic ways.  One is to supply a heating element for your pond.  That will not only keep water temperatures comfortable for your tropicals, but also prevent the pond from freezing over and possibly killing off your fish.

The second way is to remove your tropical water lilies at the first sign of dropping temperatures and place them in a large waterproof metal or plastic container in a suitable place—a heated garage, basement, or utility room kept at around 65 – 70 degrees F. is ideal.  Without adequate sunlight, the plants will most likely go dormant. 

Come spring and warmer temperatures, you can move your tropicals back outside into the pond and get ready for another great bloomin’ season.

•  Quality

All Loch Ness Water Garden’s pond plants are shipped ready for the pond the minute you receive them.

• Planting Tags

All of our plants come with tags explaining light levels, planting depth, bloom time, and hardiness zones, enabling you to plant them in exactly the right places.

• Hydroponically Grown

All our pond plants are grown hydroponically in segregated growing vats, creating healthy root structures and reducing problems caused by hitchhiking parasitic plants that can quickly become a problem in an enclosed water garden.