How to have success with waterlilies & surface cover plants:
- Repot Waterlilies in April every 2-3 years.
- Place new basket on a shallow shelf to start with.
- They will root through the mesh basket by June
- Then place the rooted basket on a deeper shelf or platform so the leaves are within a couple of inches of the water surface.
- Have plenty of waterlily leaf 'pads' on the water surface to help prevent the water from warming up too much and turning green.
- Aim for 50-60% water coverage.
- Leave the waterlilies at that new depth until Autumn so they can establish easily in their first season.
- Move down in Autumn (when they lose leaves and go dormant) to about halfway to the final depth listed on their ticket.
- In a couple of years they will be strong enough to go to the base of the pond and rise in one journey to the water surface.
Best conditions for waterlilies:
- Give all Waterlilies (Nymphaea) still water (no splashing on their leaves)
- Place in good sunshine to flower best.
- Feed twice during the growing and flowering season
- Add a boost of fertiliser - large round basket have a XL feed balls for aquatic plants.
- Use one Feed ball for Aquatic plants tab per litre of soil in the smaller square baskets. 11cm= 1 litre, 15cm basket=2 litres.
- Push these tabs directly into the soil so that the roots can take up all the nutrients and gain the benefit.
- See
Other surface cover pond plants:
- Water Hawthorn has been flowering well but is deteriorating in the recent sun.
- It is not dying but going dormant until the cooler water of Autumn again.
- Remember where it is when you do your pond maintenance or you may throw it out thinking that it is dead.
- If left alone it will grow and flower again next year.
- Stratiotes aloides Water Soldier has to rise from the base of the pond after Winter.
- As the water warms it will grow higher and spike out of the water like a pineapple top.
- Many of you have been asking about the water surface plant Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus ranae).
- We are just waiting for it to get stronger as it has only just reached the water surface after such a cold Spring.
Go to Frogbit on the Surface cover page of the website and click ‘Email when available'. Enter your email address. You will receive an email from us when it changes from 'Currently unavailable' to 'Add to basket'. This is your alert to return to the website to purchase as we have it ready for dispatch.
