My lotus is blooming!

I'm thrilled. I didn't know if it would bloom this year or not. I planted them last year.

I had no idea it would be a double. Isn't it pretty?

The flower is huge - maybe 7 inches across?

Here's three colors of waterlilies blooming.

WOW ! ! !

I'm pretty much speechless. (and you all know how hard that is to do, LOL)

LOL! There are two other buds up there with the lotus. I hope one is from the other plant.

Beautiful! I especially love your 1st picture.

WOW Hart, I'm watching mine closely. I have some nice leaf growth but no flowers yet. My waterlilies aren't flowering either. I did fertilize them a few weeks ago but didn't get around to up potting the waterlilies. I'm going to run right out and give them all some pond tabs fertilizer.

Hart, that is great! I also like the leaves on the lotus, they give the pond some height.

Holly, I did not send you a piece of Texas Dawn, I could not get to it that year, but it is an almost constant bloomer, try to keep an eye out for one. I don't know when I'll be tackling that one again, but I'll keep you in mind when I do.

Thanks Chris, I just haven't taken the time to mess with the pond plants much this year. I'm waiting for the guys to finish my other water feature and I keep thinking I'll take care of all of them when I move some into the bathtub. Well maybe next week they will get around to it......Sigh.....
I was hoping to get started on the big pond this summer but that isn't looking good either. I really can't complain with all the other things that have gotten done though.
Well, I'll just have to sit back and look at Hart's pictures and dream. LOL

If anyone needs a recommendation on a waterlily that blooms a lot, the peach colored one in that photo is Coronado and it has bloomed almost nonstop all summer. I got it from Texas Waterlilies a couple of years ago as a teensy little plant. I don't know what I'm going to do when they need to be repotted. I had such a time with the fish eating them in the past, this time the pots are covered in rocks and I crisscrossed wired over the top so they can't root around and dig them out of the pots. And I could probably get down into the pond to take the pots out but I don't know how I'd get myself out. LOL I attached jute to the pots and lowered them into the pond when I planted them.

I have wanted lotus for the longest time and I just flipped when I saw that bloom night before last. I love the leaves too, Chris.

Shirley, the first photo was taken night before last when there wasn't any sun out there but still light. The second one was taken yesterday afternoon when there was a lot more sun, and shade from the surrounding grasses.

I have GOT to get down to Lilypons and find myself a mini water lily, at least... I have a water garden pot with nothing in it but water! (no mosquitoes, I use those dunks) At least the birds etc. are enjoying it.

Critter, Did you give any thought to my bathtub suggestion? Certainly not to everyone's taste but I've seen some very pretty ones.

DH seems to have this notion that bathroom fixtures belong inside... just wait until he sees yours, all painted and plumbed and planted! :-)

Critter, Lowes has a pretty decent selection of water plants and there are lots of water plants with flowers besides waterlilies and lotus. Marsh marigold - Caltha palustris - is a nice one and it kind of looks like a little bitty waterlily with yellow flowers.

ooh... gotta love it... another excuse to stop by Lowe's! Thanks for the recommendation, Hart... Marsh marigold sounds really cute!!

I tried to find a picture of one actually in a pond. I found this white one but I've never seen those offered. What you'll find most likely is the yellow. At least it gives you an idea of the plant.

http://www.pixagogo.com/Photos/Albums/album.aspx?album=S4!uQ59TNMNjU4Pd0kMxwef-qsOGVyCgTq8FYSZy3zMCI_

Here's a nice picture of the yellow flowers. They're tiny - around an inch or a little more.
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/2007/03/caltha_palustris.php

Don't forget there are a lot of other plants you can grow in shallow water that you might already have - cannas, creeping jenny, callas, cardinal flower.

I've got the gold creeping jenny growing all around the base of my water garden pot, and it looks great! I don't think I realized I could put cannas right into water... hmmm... :-)

Thanks, Hart!