"Larry Stoter" wrote
I'm still having problems with water lillies.

We have a 1/2 barrel with a pygmea - produces lots of leaf but hasn't
flowered for 2 years. Somewhat shaded but the plant is very vigorous.

You do get good growth in shade but they must have as much sun as possible
to flower well. Needs moving by the sound of it.
Do you feed it? Rabbit pellets pushed into the soil work well. :-)


Also, a large pond 3m x 5m and up to 1.5 m deep but in full sun. We put
in 2 lillies ~3 years ago, they flowered the first year and have done
very little since. One seems to have died. A couple of months ago, we
bought a third, which produced one flower but isn't exactly flourishing.

Any suggestions?

Should I take the plants out of the basket they come in and leave them
completely free?

1.5 m (5ft) deep doesn't leave you with much of a choice of hardy waterlily,
even with the soil/pot you would still have a depth above the soil of about
4ft, are you sure the ones you have can grow at that depth?

Some hardy ones that can take it are (and I would go for the ones with a
depth leeway):...

Attraction, AM, to 4ft, deep red flowers speckled with white.
Carnea, to 5ft, huge pink flowers, fragrant.
Charles de Meurville, to 4ft, plum coloured with white speckles, strong
grower.
Collosea, to 6ft, flesh pink with scent, strong grower.
Escarboucle (or Aflame), to 6ft, huge red fragrant flowers.
Col.A J Welch, to 4ft, yellow (if it ever flowers), horrid plant, don't
bother.
Gladstoniana, AM, to 8ft, which is about the toughest one, has the biggest
pure white flowers. Even copes with my Koi. (Vera Louise is similar in
habit.)
Goliath, to 6ft, white with a rosy/apricot flush.
Vera Louise, to 5ft, soft pink, strong grower (see above).

(Nearly all Marliac hybrids, why did he take his knowledge to his grave?)

Some of these would have to be ordered and are not available at the GC's,
you might have to do some searching. Won't be cheap!
http://www.beaverwaterplants.com/waterlilies.htm (Wholesale I think.)
http://www.martex.co.uk/horticulture/mp00500.htm
http://www.stapeleywg.com/

Yes, they must be removed from the silly little basket they come in, it's
much too small for a big waterlily. If you look at the ones at Kew or Wisley
you will see they use half dustbins as I do, they don't need drainage holes
either if you think about it. Those lily baskets the water garden people
sell are a total waste of money, the plant would be just as well off potted
in a large cheap plastic bucket where the soil couldn't leech away.

p.s. glad you asked that, it's made me look up what else I can get for our
pond. :-)
--
Regards
Bob
in Runnymede, 17miles west of London, UK