Roop wrote:

last year i trimmed all the floating leaves and put them back in the
water. they quickly grew submerged leaves and then the pond froze
over. i was thinking if i pulled them out and started them now, i
would probably have a longer flowering season for them.

Perhaps. As Carol mentioned, you need a lot of light. Those submerged
leaves are called "indicator leaves". They're usually quite small, and
their sole purpose is to trigger growth when light levels get high enough.

ime, you get no head start keeping lilies in an ordinary aquarium under
living room lighting. What you get is a guarantee that they won't get
frozen :-)

it won't be warm enough to put them back outside until april or may,
probably the end of may at that. my worry is they would grow too
quickly in a few motnhs, but if i leave them outside, i may only get
a month or two of flowering. what do you guys think?

You run a greater risk of shortening the flowering season by repotting
your lilies with the crowns too deep in the soil, than by leaving them
in the pond to restart themselves.
--
derek