Growing Lotus
Don't expect too much from the first few leaves.
The first small leaves were not impressive; they resembled very small water lily leaves. After two or three small leaves, a large leaf spike emerges reaching for the sky. Unfolding, this leaf should measure approximately twelve inches across and be held about twelve inches on top of the water. It resembled a huge, flattened soup bowl more than anything else and when it gets wet, the water simply rolls off the leaf. That is all except for a spot at the stem junction where the water reflectsthe sunlight and beams away with apparent pleasure.
Once the leaves had finished expanding - and we're now talking the end of June - the flower stalks started to emerge from the banana shaped root (or more properly a rhizome). These tremendously strong stalks reached up three to four feet above the lotus leaves and formed a huge fist sized, egg-shaped bud.
To make a long impatient story much shorter than the wait, the opening of the lotus blossom was worth the wait. We're talking gorgeous here. A wonderful show of colour! Each blossom closed at night and seemed to last three or four days before fading away.
Planting Secrets
There are a few important points to understand about planting lotus or you'll kill them.
Overwintering Lotus
The easiest place to overwinter lotus is in the ground but here's another thing I did one year
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Read What Others Have Said
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My lotus seedlings died I started some lotus from seeds. They put out nice 4" shoots in the jar, at which time I planted them in my pond. A couple of leaves appeared att he ...
Lotus Seed Harvesting and Germinating We have a lotus plant in our pond and have had 2 flowers open (they are beautiful) The pods are drying and we want to try and plant the seeds in the pods ...
My first attempt at a Lotus Actually it is my front yard.....but we have built a water feature with two ponds,two water falls and a stream. About 3,000 gallons. It has been a challange ...
White Lotus I saw this lotus at the Chicago Botanic Gardens and I don't know it's name. But I want one for my garden.
My most Beautiful Flower
When I first saw the leaves sprouting out of the water ,silly me thought they were deformed Lillys.LOL
Then I saw this long stem emerge from my back ...
Lotus pond dimension
I have made a lotus pond that is 3 feet deep. It is 2 feet wide. Are the dimensions fine for the growth of the plant?
Doug says he wouldn't plant ...
do I put my lotus lily in dirt now? I bought three lotus lily pad pods. I grew them in water in my window sill. They have roots and small leaves on them now and are about 8 inches or more ...
My baby doll lotus (or, patience is a virtue) I bought this lotus from a pond store several years ago. I kept it in it's original container for a couple of years with no luck in flowering. It was ...
Overwintering young lotus seedlings Started 3 lotus seeds in my pond which is only 2 feet deep. There have been several 2 inch, blue-green leaves come up so far. Don't know what to do for ...
My Pride and Joy of 2009 I started this lotus tuber in 2008 and it grew nicely. I overwintered it in my pond and in 2009 it grew and grew and finally it got 2 large buds. It was ...
Growing Nelumbo in small space I have just gotten 9 nelumbo seeds that i currently have in a small tupperware container. They have sprouted and are outgrowing their living space. I'm ...
