Water Lilies, hardy and beautiful!

HMcSwan 2016 © (digital edit)

We just have a small pond - it is actually a hot tub with all the vents sealed up and sunk in the ground.  The hot tub works really well, as it has a centre depth of about 3.5' - this is where the lilies are placed in the winter months.  Water lilies are often grown according to depth, so a larger Gonnere would be quite happy on the bottom, but the smaller Chromatella would use the upper shelf of the pond (hot tub). 

After dividing them, we often have some for sale. 

Hot tub in ground with vents and holes etc sealed up.

Rockery around the edge and our black cat supervising.

'Sirius'

Dwarf water lily 'Aurora'

Purple mottled leaves of 'Sirius' water lily

'Pink Perfection' Water lily

Hardy water lily 'Sirius'

'Pink Perfection'

'Gonnere' hardy water lily

Hardy water lilies have, like a most lilies, very tuberous roots that can be divided.

'Chromatella' Hardy water lily

Water hyacinth close up

Iris chrysograph that can be grown as a marginal, along with water mint and other marginals... it is so dark it is often referred to as 'black iris'

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Dragonflies

Wherever there is water deep enough for dragonfly nymphs to overwinter, there they are: blue, red, large dragonflies and smaller damselflies...

large blue dragonfly

empty casing of dragon fly nymph

This dragonfly is coming out of its casing that remains attached to the reed or grass where it climbed out. For this reason, marginal plants are important.

empty casings left behind on plant stems