PLANNING CONSIDERATIONS
If you want water lilies or lotus to be in the center of your pond you will need to build something to rise from the bottom to rest the pot on. Make sure it is a stable platform. Below is a nice way to display a lotus as a featured plant in your pond and keep it at the right depth.
Platform for Lilies, Lotus or Flowering Bog Plants
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Decide on your "marginal plants." These are also called "bog plants." Marginal water plants as the name implies are those that occupy the edges (margin) around the pond. Most of these plants do not like to dry out. Marginal or bog plants are happiest growing in wet mud.
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Decide on your "floating and submerged Oxygenator plants."
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Lastly, algae eating snails make a great addition as they eat algae and scour the pond bottom for decaying material. They are not invasive egg layers and give live birth.
PLANTING YOUR POND PLANTS
Keep the newly delivered plants wet and out of the sunlight. The soil can be out of your flower or vegetable garden. Heavy soil with some clay is good. Avoid potting soils like 'Miracle Grow Planting Soil' as is too light and will float out of the pot. Dirt from your yard is just fine.
Use any plastic or clay pot that you have. If the pots have holes in them, line the bottom of the pot with burlap, newspaper or some other heavy-fibered material. You don't want any holes in the pot as good drainage is not an issue. The most important thing is to keep your dirt/mud mix in one place. Most bog plants will work in 2 to 3 gallon pots. Lilies do best if they have more room, so a 3 to 5 gallon pot is desired for them.
To prepare the soil - mix the soil with water from the pond to make a nice thick mudpie. Then fill the pot that you have chosen to about 2" from the top with your mudpie mix. Newly potted plants can be placed in the shallow area until they become established and you can move them deeper. Keep lilies away from waterfalls and fountains as they don't do well with water droplets on the leaves. Follow any specific directions as noted on the plastic tags that come with the plants.
FERTILIZER - Put a fertilizer tab in the pot when you first plant and then again once a month. Some plants like Lilies and Lotus are big eaters and need 2 tabs a month.
PLANTING FLOATING OXYGENATOR PLANTS - This is really easy. Just lay them in your pond! If you want to contain them in one area of your pond you will need to make a floating fence for them. Just take a few sticks and form them into the shape you want and tie the ends together with fishing line. Lay the stick fence into the pond and lay the floaters inside of it. This will keep them located in one spot if you anchor the fence with a weight and fishing line.
PLANTING SUBMERGED OXYGENATOR PLANTS - These do well if you have gravel in the bottom of your pond. Just clump the roots in a bunch and push gravel over them. If you have no gravel you can get some lead sinkers at the sporting goods department and take some light fishing line and then tie a slip knot on the plant bottom and then apply a weight to the line and place it where you want it. Another option is to find some long, wide and shallow plastic trays. Make a mix of dirt and gravel and plant the submerged plants into it and then lay it in your pond bottom. There are a lot of creative ways to plant these plants from simple to complex. Your imagination is your guide to how you want to use them.
PLANTING BOG PLANTS - Plant these as you would lilies, again making sure that you don't cover the crown of the plant. The bog plants that we sell come in 2" net pots. Care should be taken when removing the plants from these pots. Bog plants should only be in water deep enough to cover the pot.
PLANTING WATER LILIES - Place the tuber at a 45 degree angle, with the non-growing end against the side of the pot. Add a fertilizer tab near the crown (growing end) of the tuber. Lilies are heavy feeders and should be fertilized once a month after planting. Be careful that the fertilizer is not touching the roots as this will burn them. Press the soil around the roots being careful not to cover the crown of the plant. Add a layer of gravel over the soil, again being careful not to cover the crown. It is better to plant lilies too high in your pond, rather than to plant them too deep. We like to use gravel that is a least ½" in diameter. Gravel keeps the fish from digging into the soil.
PLANTING WATER LOTUS - We recommend that you float your lotus tuber in aged pond water for 10-14 days in a warm sunny place before planting. This allows the tuber to sprout and will increase your success in growing lotus. When your lotus is ready to plant, fill up a 5 to 10 gallon or 12” x 12” pot with 6" of topsoil with pea stone at a rate of 60% topsoil 30% pea stone. This will improve aeration in the soil. Then place the lotus tuber with the growing tips straight upwards. Gently press the tuber into the mud being very careful not to damage the new growing tips. Add a think 1" layer of gravel to cover the tuber and to keep the tuber from floating. Lotus are very heavy feeders, but should not be fertilized until they have put up two or three leaves. After they have set leaves they should be given 1 or 2 tabs of fertilizer per pot. Place it in the pond no more than 8 inches deep of water over the top of the pot.
