"Bill Stock" wrote
Nice looking place (Google Earth), but I'm in Southern Ontario.

It got down to 41° that night.


Brrrrrr!

It must be difficult to maintain a pond in that climate. By the time you get
it ready for summer, it's time to button it up for the long winter.

BTW: When it gets down to 41 degF here we call it winter. In fact, we call
it arctic. It does snow here occassionally, about every 10 years or so. The
last time was on Christmas 2004. Of course is was a dusting and it was 60
degF by noon, but still it was interesting.

The largest weather problem with ponds here is rain and sun. The rain can
come down frantically every summer afternoon and overlow your pond quickly.
And many fish and plants can't take the summer sun.

Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
================================================== ==============

"MLF" wrote in message
...
The largest weather problem with ponds here is rain and sun. The rain can
come down frantically every summer afternoon and overlow your pond
quickly. And many fish and plants can't take the summer sun.
===========================
How about a bunch of tropical water lilies to shade the pond? We use the
hardy ones here and they do a great job of shading sunny ponds.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

"Reel McKoi" wrote
The largest weather problem with ponds here is rain and sun. The rain can
come down frantically every summer afternoon and overlow your pond
quickly. And many fish and plants can't take the summer sun.
===========================
How about a bunch of tropical water lilies to shade the pond? We use the
hardy ones here and they do a great job of shading sunny ponds.


That will certainly work. However, it can get expensive. An alternative is
to make sure you pond is deep enough so that it doesn't turn into fish soup
in the afternoon. Another idea is to provide some shade (NOT trees) to keep
the temp down. Lots of plants will do it, or a pergola or other cover.

Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
================================================== ==============

"MLF" wrote in message
...

"Reel McKoi" wrote
How about a bunch of tropical water lilies to shade the pond? We use the
hardy ones here and they do a great job of shading sunny ponds.


That will certainly work. However, it can get expensive. An alternative is
to make sure you pond is deep enough so that it doesn't turn into fish
soup in the afternoon. Another idea is to provide some shade (NOT trees)
to keep the temp down. Lots of plants will do it, or a pergola or other
cover.

Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
================================================== ==============
I started with a few hardly water lilies and now I have to compost what I
can't give away. But the hardys are cheap at Wal*Mart - $4.88 for the last
ones I bought. In the spring each can be divided into several plants. But
one healthy well fed lily can cover a huge area.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

"Reel McKoi" wrote
I started with a few hardly water lilies and now I have to compost what I
can't give away. But the hardys are cheap at Wal*Mart - $4.88 for the
last ones I bought. In the spring each can be divided into several
plants. But one healthy well fed lily can cover a huge area.


Wow! That sounds great. I'm in zone 8/9 so I'm not sure if a water lily that
loves Zone 6 where you are will do well in our climate. Nonetheless, I'm
willing to give it a try. Do you know what variety yours is?

Alternatively, Is there anyone reading this who has had good luck with
inexpensive lilies in the Gulf Coast region? What kind were they?


Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
================================================== ==============

"MLF" wrote in message
...

"Reel McKoi" wrote
I started with a few hardly water lilies and now I have to compost what I
can't give away. But the hardys are cheap at Wal*Mart - $4.88 for the
last ones I bought. In the spring each can be divided into several
plants. But one healthy well fed lily can cover a huge area.


Wow! That sounds great. I'm in zone 8/9 so I'm not sure if a water lily
that loves Zone 6 where you are will do well in our climate. Nonetheless,
I'm willing to give it a try. Do you know what variety yours is?

No I don't, but they tell you on the box and there's always a pic of the
color. I bought one each of each color.... from white to pale pink to red.
One was even a changeable mini. I have no complaints with Wally World's
water lilies.

Alternatively, Is there anyone reading this who has had good luck with
inexpensive lilies in the Gulf Coast region? What kind were they?

You may have to go with tropicals. I haven't seen them locally. But they
all multiply from what I understand and offer great shade to the pond. The
flowers are beautiful. Icing on the cake.
--

RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
Zone 6. Middle TN USA
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö

On Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:15:04 CST, "MLF" wrote:

Alternatively, Is there anyone reading this who has had good luck with
inexpensive lilies in the Gulf Coast region? What kind were they?

My hardy water lilies seem to respond to water temperature and hours
of sunlight and every type I've tried does well here. I believe they
would do well for you. I do have one that will grow in deeper water
and grows bigger, maybe a bit more tendency to climb out of the pot
than most of the others and I think it might have been dug from the
wild out of one of our local lakes. The others are Lowe's whatever
they have this year, mostly un-named varieties just different colors
and some have leaves that are more interesting. I really think we
have an edge on growing most plants being this far South and getting
more direct sunlight and heat.

They grow well when placed in a pot of garden soil with a couple time
released fertilizer spikes. However, I don't have much luck with
bare root growth. I've tried several, but those grow slowly and
seldom bloom in my pond.
--
Hal Middle Georgia, Zone 8
http://tinyurl.com/2fxzcb

"Hal" wrote in
Alternatively, Is there anyone reading this who has had good luck with
inexpensive lilies in the Gulf Coast region? What kind were they?
...
I really think we
have an edge on growing most plants being this far South and getting
more direct sunlight and heat.


A friend of mine is a commercial horticulturalist that runs a very large
nursery here (she's got a half million pointettias growing now, and in a
month or two she'll have twice that many lilies). She says that best thing
about Louisiana is that anything will grow here. The worst thing about
Louisiana is that ANYTHING will grow here, whether you want it to or not.


Michael
New Orleans, Louisiana USA
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