There is another way to keep hardy water lilies over the winter. I have
used this method a few times. Lift the lilies out of the pond just before it
freezes over and dump them out of their pots. Cut off all the dead leaves
and strip off all the dirt (along with the mass of small roots) from the
main roots. Then Sink them (in a string bag, with a rock) into a container
full of clean water and store it in a cool Dark place in the house. So far I
haven't found a place that it completely dark so when I check them during
the winter they are developing More leaves.

In the early spring - just after the ice goes out of the pond - Repot the
lilies and sink them in the pond. I usually get my hardy plants, and my fish
back into the pond before May 1st. In Ottawa you may be able to start the
pond up 2 weeks earlier than I can.

--
Ponder_Eh?
The Pond http://my.tbaytel.net/tboard/


"Roop" wrote in message
...
i live in ottawa on, canada and have a 500 gallon pond setup in my
back yard. right now it's covered in about a foot of ice and snow. i
removed all my fish in the fall last year and left them in a large
aquarium. i was thinking of doing the same for my water lilies.