PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Water Lily (Hardy)
Nymphaea 'Marliacea Chromatella'
Floating, lemon-yellow cup flowers over mottled pads from June to September. A medium hardy lily for ponds 45–75 cm deep.
When to plant and care for it
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Water Lily (Hardy): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Lives in water
- Soil
- Aquatic compost in a planting basket
- Spacing
- One per 1–1.5 m² of water surface
- Height
- Floating; spreads 1.2 m
- In pots
- Best in the ground
- Feeding
- Aquatic fertiliser tablets in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 4–10
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant in an aquatic basket of heavy loam with a gravel top. Stand it on bricks so the leaves reach the surface, then lower it to 45–75 cm over a few weeks.
Every year
- MaySpring Feed
Push an aquatic fertiliser tablet into the basket compost.
- MayDivide Big Clumps
Every 3–4 years, lift the basket, cut the rhizome into pieces with a few leaves each and replant.
- JulyIn Flower
Water lilies in flower — take a photo.
- SeptemberRemove Dead Pads
Pull off yellowing leaves and spent flowers so they do not rot in the water.
More flowers to grow
Photo: Roland zh, upload on 27. September 2009 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
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