Grow Your Own Waterlilies

Looking for an eye-catching plant to add to your pond? A popular choice among pond and water garden lovers is the flowering waterlily. These beautiful plans are fun, easy to grow, and come in a wide variety of colors! Ready to make the addition? Here is everything you need to know about growing waterlilies on your own…

Planting Waterlilies

In order to place your waterlily into a pond or decorative container, it must first be properly planted in an aquatic planter. These flexible containers are porous and often feature small handles to assist with lowering into a pond.

Your aquatic planter of choice should be approximately 14” x 7” in size. After pouring a generous amount of potting media into the aquatic planter, add your waterlily rhizome. The rhizome should be planted at a roughly 45º angle with the cut end deeper in the soil and near the edge of the pot. The growing tip should project 3/4” above the surface of the soil. Be sure to fertilize your waterlily. They have a ferocious appetite and will perform best if well fed!

Before dropping the aquatic planter into your pond or decorative container, you’ll want to add a layer of washed gravel or small pebbles on top of the soil. This will keep the soiling from escaping into the water. This rock/gravel layer should be about ½” thick. Here’s a helpful trick: use black or dark gravel so that it is not easily visible in the water. Once your waterlily is planted properly into its aquatic planter, you are ready to add it in your pond!

When carefully placing the aquatic planter with your waterlily into either your pond or decorative container, make sure to lower it slowly and at an angle while the bubbles escape. This combination of tilting the waterlily in its aquatic planter while lowering it into the water-filled decorative container will help you to avoid turbulence.

Container Water Gardening

If your waterlily’s final destination is a decorative container rather than a pond, it is important that the container is specifically designed for gardening. With these special containers, there is no hole to fill in at the bottom, meaning you do not have to seal the insides to eliminate leaking!

Choose a container at least 12-15” deep with a diameter of 24-36”. Fill the decorative container with water before placing the waterlily–along with its aquatic planter–into the container.

Final Advice…

Waterlilies need a minimum of 6 hours of sun and will perform best in an area that receives at least 8-10 hours of direct sun. For decorative container users, make sure its location gets plenty of sunshine! A few shade-tolerant waterlilies will prosper with as little as 4 hours of sunlight.