My (soon to be) pond will have an area that's about 6 feet wide by about 12
feet long, designed for water lillies
How many plants would I put in?
I have a shelf built in, that's about 12 inches wide and 24 inches long.How
many water lillies could I plant in that space?

It all depends on thed kind of water lilies you put in some are larger than
others......The med spread is about 3 fefet and the large can go 6 feet.....You
could only put one lily on that shelf.
If I build a "pocket" for the water
lillies to sit in, do I need to put them in baskets (or some other
container), or can I just plant them in thepocket?

you can direct plant them in pockets....remember however when you direct plant
if you ever want to divide them it will be a mess.....I have a lily/ goldfish
pond that is about 8x15 feet, and it only has 2 lilies in it...They are
directly planted and take up about 1/2 the pond....This pond has a small
amount of gravel on the bottom, They have been this way for 2 summers now, and
the blooms and leaves are spectacular....My Colorado has as many as 11 blooms
at once and the arc en ciel has 5 with the most wonderful leaves. If I could
only have 2 kinds of lilies those would be the ones I choose. I am sure that
in another 2 years the entire pond will be filled completely, and that is what
I want. I do not fertilize...the fish do that for me.....there are about 10
or 15 big goldfish,,,,and bunches of babies....the bullfrogs keep the
population down for me......good luck Jerri

http://www.fringeweb.com/Ponds/JerrisPond