Hardy Water Lilies
There are some major differences between water lilies and soil-based garden plants. A basic difference is that the roots of most water garden plants do not have the tiny root hairs found on regular garden plants. Those tiny root hairs are responsible for absorbing water in our garden plants but because water plants have adapted to growing underwater, they have different mechanisms for absorbing water. Water lilies also tend to have their stomata (similar to sweat cells) on top of the leaves rather than below the leaves like most plants (it it’s kinda hard to eliminate excess water and absorb oxygen when the sweat gland is underwater). And that’s the end of the biology lesson for this page.
Slideshow of Water Lilies
Slideshow of water lilies opens in a new window, the show only goes one way, you click on the pictures to change them and it repeats until you're tired of clicking.
Growing Tips
To begin with, hardy pond lilies are the tough ones. Unless you freeze them solid, they are one of the easiest of plants to grow. They require very little attention during the summer months; other than pruning off the dying leaves and flowers they are quite happy to sit in their pond and bloom.
These pond lily plants bloom during the day opening in the late morning (the actual time depends on the time of year, the heat of the water and available sunlight) but then they close down again the late afternoon. This means if you work for a living, you’re only going to see the hardy blooms on the weekend. (evening blooming plants are available in more tender tropical water lilies.
Hardy lilies need at least six full hours of sunlight a day if they are to bloom properly. A few hybrids will bloom with a bit less than that (and they are often marketed for this purpose) but no lily will bloom in the shade. Think about it for a moment. How many trees are there out in the middle of a lake or big swamp where we find these plants in nature?
Water lilies do not like being near splashing water
Those sweat glands (stomata) we mentioned earlier on top of the leaves absorb oxygen. If the splash from fountains covers these tiny holes with water, the plant can actually drown (similar to putting a regular garden plant under water) I’m told by experts in such things that even if the plant doesn’t drown, the bacteria in water can enter the stomata and multiply – effectively killing the leaf. If you kill enough leaves, you kill off the plant.
Grow water lilies in still water that is approximately eighteen to thirty inches deep.
A rule of thumb is the smaller the variety, the shallower the water and the bigger the variety, the deeper the water. So, miniature tropical varieties can survive and bloom nicely in water that is just under a foot in depth while the largest spreading varieties can survive in water up to four feet deep. On average, the eighteen to thirty inches is a great rule of thumb. And if you want further planting information, you can find it here.
Yes, water lilies adapt to the depth of the water they are in.
The stems stretch out to allow the leaf to float on the surface. My experience in the nursery was that the flower buds would also stretch out (so you can buy a budded plant and move it from shallow to deeper water) but once the bud started to open into a flower, the stem lost its elasticity and the flower stem would not elongate further. The leaves will adapt nicely to changes in water depth.
Articles on the Planting, Care and Feeding of Waterlilies
How to plant water lilies you'll find basic instructions here.
How to start lily seeds is right here. Once you figure out if your seedpod has been pollinated (instructions here) then the rest is following this recipe.
How to divide and learn the art of propagating hardy waterlilies.
Feeding waterlily information is here.
Water quality information is here
Here’s how to overwinter water lilies.
Questions and Answers
Please use the form below to ask questions. And also, please understand that I get quite a few questions across my sites every week. This means I can't get to all questionsand if yours is one I can't get to, please accept my apologies.
Will my water lilies grow? (I hope so)
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See What Other Visitors Haves Asked About Water Lilies
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
Lilies are have taken over my pond.
How do I get rid of these pesky lilies?
Doug says start digging. :-) I also note that you can cut off the leaves and if you do that regularly you'll ...
How deep to plant a plantlet purchased at a store I purchased a plantlet at a store. I believe it's a hardy waterlily. I followed all of the guidelines for planting. It has a few shoots and as they are ...
