Gather the Right Supplies for Keeping your Water Lily:
For best results, we recommend planting aquatic plants in Fabric Plant Pots for best results. Use a heavy clay loam or a pre-packaged plant media specific for aquatic plants. Using a soil that is light and fluffy like potting soil will cause a good deal of headache. In order for your water lily to thrive, you will also need to feed it once a month with aquatic plant fertilizer.
Plant Your Bare Root Water Lily:
Once you've gathered your supplies and your bare root water lily plant has arrived, it's time to plant. Keep your plant wet while you are planting it so that the leaves don't dry out. Hardy water lilies are planted using a loam garden soil and 2-3 fertilizer tablets. Hardy lilies grow horizontally across the container so a wide pot is necessary for planting (a 14 or 16-inch fabric pot is the best container). Fill your planting container to be about half-full with soil. Place 2 fertilizer tablets in the soil. The rhizome should be planted at one edge of the container with the rhizome planted at an angle of about 45 degrees with the crown exposed. Gently add soil over top being sure to keep the crown (the top of the root formation) exposed. Tamp down the soil to compact it a bit. Then, top with an 1-2 inch to 1 inch of pea gravel. The pea gravel helps to make sure the soil won't float away. The plant can be lowered to a depth of 6 inches to begin with, and then lowered to deeper depths as the plant grows.
Most aquatics require at least 5 hours of direct sunlight for optimum growth. Water lilies like calm waters, so be sure to position them away from waterfalls, sprays or fountains.
Feeding & Blooming!
Hardy lilies should be planted in early spring and should be fertilized every 4-6 weeks. They bloom from June through September depending on the weather and become dormant during the colder months. As spring approaches, growth will begin again.
Enjoy!
