I've posted some pics of this on the thread "For Mike Freck", but I expect most of you won't look at that (not as rude as me LOL). I'm really excited that the lotus I bought last year is flowering for the first time. Here are some photos:
Lotus 'Maggie Bell Slocum'
The plant dwarfs the yellow water lily alongside
In this photo you can see how high the flowers and leaves are held above the water
Im still not happy that i can't get them to grow.
Also why is it that no one over here grows them? I have even tried a few of the specialst water garden growers and they hadn't even heard of it! Why is it such a closely guarded secret?
Yours looks fantastic though.
I wonder if they need strong sunshine to thrive?
They are certainly hardy over winter - it was colder here than in Kent last winter. We had -15C.
They are very expensive though - I bought young bare rooted plants and lost one of them (I think I placed it too deeply in the pond) - not much fun at 50 euros each. Older potted ones are around 90 euros.
Its probably a question of needing hot weather in the summer and plenty of strong sun.
Looks mine has finally died.
It was in a glass vase in the greenhouse.
She grew lots of leaves but all really small.
Cleaned him out yesterday and just the tip was left that was green!
Mike
Oh I'm sorry :(
My brother has friends in Italy who grow them OK, but he agrees that they need lots of hot sunshine - not available in the UK......