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In my water garden, I usually
like to plant two day blooming lilies and one night bloomer. I have
had the best luck with Blue Beauty, and Director George Moore. The
first is blue and the other is purple with a nice yellow center. The
night bloomer that I purchase is Emily Grant Hutchings. I have had
very good luck with Tricker'sWater Gardening in Independence, OH. I
order "Special Grown Lilies" ahead. These are ordered in
January and can not be picked up before June 1 in order to have a
guarantee. |
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I use Prafecta to plant the lilies. This
fertilizer is good to start the plant. Then every two-three weeks I
use two or three Trico tablets to continue fertilizing. I have found
that it is very necessary to fertilize and this is one thing not to skimp
on. Also, it is necessary to keep the yellow leaves trimmed
off. The plant should only have nice big healthy green leaves.
I have found if I have fewer leaves, I usually have more flowers. I
make sure the top of the plant is about five inches from the top of the
water. I used to order regular tropical from the catalog.
Special growns are slightly more expensive, but it is well worth the
difference because we have such a short growing season in our area. |
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Here is a picture of my new night bloomer. I obtained it during
the first week of June, 1999. It is in the front. It is called
Mrs. George Hitchcock. It was introduced by George Pring in
1926, It is one of the oldest waterlily hybrids. It is a rose
pink and it produces flowers of the greatest size. It is very easy
to grow and it started blooming in early July. I think it bloomed
much earlier for me than most of my night bloomers because we have had
many ninety degree days. It smells so beautiful and the scent is
very noticeable when you first walk outside. |
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Here is a picture of my Director George T. Moore day blooming water
lily. It was produced by George Pring in 1941. He was the
director of the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis. It has the
deepes violet blossoms produced in a water lily. The center is
bright gold and this makes this one really stand out. I planted it
in my garden in early June. It is now the middle of July and it has
at least ten blooms on it. Like I said before, tropicals
really put on a good show when a large amount of fertilizer is used.
This is by far my favorite lily. |
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Here is a picture of my tropical Water Lily Blue Beauty. It is one
of Tricker's Finest Lilies. It is a hybrid that was introduced in
1896 as Nymphaea pulcherrima. The blossoms are blue with a spicy
fragrance. The blossoms stand at least six inches out of the
water. I have about five blooms on mine at all times. If you
are only going to buy one tropical, this is the one for you! |
