Hi, I'm in zone 6 and my lotus winter over without any problems
in the lotus pond. (see the 2nd website below). Yes, as Wendy
says, they are hardy to zone 4. I was so afraid
I'd loose all four of them that first winter .... I didn't want to
winter them over in the pond with the very lively Koi but knew
the whiskey barrels I had them in would freeze solid - so I had
a lotus pond dug. There is 12" of builders sand in the bottom
of the 24" deep pond. Anyway, I feed them the water from
the bottom of the fish pond which is about 3 feet away. I have
the pond guys come out and fertilize them in the early spring.

Wish I knew why lotuses fail ... no rhyme or reason - to my way
of thinking.

Good Luck!

Nedra
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Pines/4836
http://community.webshots.com/user/nedra118

"Wendy Kelly Budd" wrote in message
...
I'm in zone 8b, so no practical experience, but do you really need to
bring
in the lotus? Aren't they hardy to zone 4 or 5? Try treating them the
same
as what you do with your hardy lilies.

Impressed that you successfully overwinter tropical lilies.

--
Wendy* in N. California,

"Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people
are works of art." Eleanor Roosevelt


"bern" wrote in message
om...
Arrrghhh!

I have no problems with hardy waterlillies in my southern Michigan
pond. They come back year after year and bloom heavily. I have no
problem with tropical water lillies which I bring in every winter to a
heated horse trough where they live (without blooming) until they go
out in Spring.

I have tried several different types of hardy Lotus over the years,
treating them essentially the same as the hardy lillies. But they
always die, if not after one year, then after two. I planted one last
year that put up several leaves and looked very good by fall. But this
spring it has failed to regrow, and is certainly dead.

Question: How does the care and feeding of Lotus differ from that of
hardy lillies? What do you guys who successufully overwinter lotus and
water lillies do differently with the two plants.

thanks

bern