Getting closer....

[JenH]

I will try. Where did you get your lotus from Addy?

Here are those pics from yesterday. WIll see if I can get more today, if it opens again. The first pic was before it bloomed, but you can see how far below the surface it is, and you can evens ee the other taller bud. It's slightly to the left of the red leaf. 2nd pic is off course the bloom, it was only open that far before I had to leave yesterday, so maybe today I'll get a better pic. Oh and the last one is for fun, I was surprised I actually got a decent shot like that of the big guy.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Jen your lucky to have lots if sun, very nice lilys! I don't think the lotus grows well here, no one ever seem to sell it, could be why. Still waiting for my pads on my lily to turn green. water is getting warmer now that the sun came out and its supposed to be real hot today, hope it says that way. Got lots of good Canadian Grass though, grass loves the cool weather!
Nice shot of the black fish, their hard to capture on camera sometimes!

 

[CountryEscape]

Great pic of your fish, Jen, and is the calico one on the right side of the pic a fantail or Shubunkin? I saw several calico fantails at Wal-Mart today, must have just gotten in a shipment, and if I had not been on my lunch hour, I would have "saved" them! May go back tomorrow and do just that! I want to have several more fantails and see if I can't eventually raise a few fantail babies.
The directions for the lotus are very unique! That is exactly how mine were shipped, and the directions didn't say to plant the newspaper, but it said to plant the tuber with the cut side against the side of the pot. I wonder if maybe I didn't understand what the "cut edge of the tuber" really was! The "bowl" lotus (smaller version) is doing just fine, but the others all seem to have died. I have some seeds I bought, too, so will give them a try at starting them now, since I have the pots to grow them in.
While at Botanical Gardens Sat. in St. Louis, they had a huge mass of lotus growing along the edge of the pond where the koi were. Here's a pic.

Won't that be beautiful when they are all blooming? Bet they are all different colors, too. I had hoped that the lotus would grow, and then if I had overabundance sometime, I would put the extras in my farm pond, see if it would grow there for me. Goodness knows my pond is shallow enough. But, no luck yet .... maybe someday ...

 

[JenH]

Thanks Colleen...sometimes all that sun isn't so great though as evident by all the darn string algae I still can't get rid of. 2 of my husband's brothers are coming to visit us from Edmonton next week and they were freaking out a week ago when it was in the 90's here and hot! Lucky for them it's not supposed to be that hot while they are here. Also, that pic was a total accident, in fact I didnt even know it was there til I loaded them on the computer from my camera! LOL. I think I was just trying to get one showing how big he is and he turned at just the right time! He's a funny fish, he moves so slow, even when he eats. Like he's to old to get excited like all the others...

CE, I can never tell what the cut edges are on any plant, so I always just plant everything in the middle of the pot. Oh well, probably just means I have to divide sooner. Well, did, until I moved the lilies out of the pots. Are the gardens in your pic nearby? Will you get to see them when they start to bloom, I bet they will be amazing! The calico is a shubunkin. I also have another one that is mostly black and orange. There had been a 3rd shubby too, but I think the monster bullfrog ate him last year when it was still a baby.

I drove out to the water garden store today to look for a memorial stone for my cat (we had to put her down today) They ended up being closed but several of their lotus were outside the greenhouse and a couple were blooming. I haven't seen one in person before, they are so beautiful! A couple of them had tags on them that looked similar to the one I want online. A little different but close, white with pink. When I go back to look for the stone tomorrow I am gonna ask their price. If they're reasonable, I may just get it there. Already potted and growing, surely I can't mess that up! LOL. They also had 2 marginals by their outdoor ponds that I want to find out what they are. Both plants were tall, stalky looking, one had little yellow flowers and the other had little purple flowers. They were really pretty too.

Also picked up a few other plants today for the surrounding landscape. 2 hardy hibiscus, 1 coneflower, and 2 little squares of poppys. I really gotta get this impulsive plant buying under control! It's almost as bad as my shoe addiction! LOL

 

[callingcolleen1]

Could be worse, you could spend your money senseless on bingo or smoking, at least you got something to show for it, that's how I look at it!!

 

[CountryEscape]

Good points, Colleen!!! Totally agree. I am also a plant addict. I went to buy a few things I NEEDED at Menards, came home with 2 non-hardy hibiscus (they are in bog), lobelia to use as accents in some of my hanging pots, 4 tropical house plants that will go in the pot with the spindle palm ... yep, it's an addiction for sure! LOL But, I'm loving it!
I suspect the lotus will be expensive, but I would be tempted as well, Jen. I can see all of my plants from my deck, except the ones on the other sides of my house. The landscape place is on my way back through town, about 8 miles away, so that makes it tempting to go look every so often. Yes, they are more expensive, but full grown plants instead of seeds or babies that may die. It's ALWAYS great to see the plants growing next to a pond, to see how they grow, how tall, etc. in full growth.

 

[JenH]

Here are some pics of the new things I got today and of my lily. It started blooming underwater again, but then came out of the water with this bloom. It still is a really bright pink but the older bloom seems to be darkening. Maybe that is what they do, darken as they get older. Also got a lovely stone for my cat today, and a lotus. They were pretty expensive at the pond store but they ended up offering me this little one for less. Got it for $35 and the other bigger ones were $50. Figured that's not to bad only $5 more then online. It's called a Chawan Basu Lotus and looks pretty similar to the Empress lotus I wanted online, white with pink tips. I don't like how it is planted halfway down it's pot though. Now I idea how to transfer it to a new pot without killing it though. Also got a yellow monkey flower. Hopefully it grows, they didn't have it for sale, but had it by one of their ponds so they dug a start out for me, the pic is from their pond edge. I stuck it in my bog for now until I figure out where I want it to go permanently. My water looks really murky from messing around in the bog earlier. That always stirs up some dirt.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Awe, cute stone, yellow monkey flower looks good between the rocks. I got yellow monkey flower too, comes up in marsh every year. Not in bloom yet. Got to go, sky getting real dark again, like night time, heard a distant rumble.... not another storm please, Poppy and I just finished cleaning after the one from last night!

 

[j.w]

Jen, nice garden stone for your cat. Monkey flower kind of reminds me of Creeping Jenny only upright and bigger. Very pretty lotus, so delicate looking. Yep the lily flowers sometimes change the color as they open up and get older.

Colleen good luck on the storm front and hope no mess to deal w/ tomorrow morning! And poor Poppy all over again. My dog we used to have would go in a closet and start to dig in stuff when thunder came our way. He'd do it also when we were out walking and it happened............just start digging on the trail, a hole to China!

 

[don't ask]

wow Jen, they gave you a good sized chunk of monkey flower, at least i thought it is..free right? even better! lotus looks great as you get to enjoy now. i'm growing one from seed like a few others in the group but don't know how long it will take before it gets big and with the weather going hot and sunny to cool that is slowing things down.. sorry about you having to put your cat down, had a dog that i lost just before christmas.. and hey always remember you're never alone when it comes to cloudy, murky or not crystal clear pond water

 

[sissy]

my lotus is still growing on the window sill and still mad something stole my other ones out of the stock tank ,one day they were there and the next gone

 

[don't ask]

well that just sucks...sorry to hear that sissy

 

[sissy]

I'm thinking birds or an animal took them because there are no neighbors close by .Most of the lots here are 3 acres or more .I have an owl that lives in the trees behind my house and not sure he would have taken them .They were getting nice leaves on them too .Not sure what kind of other animal would take them .

 

[pondlover]

Jen are you going to leave your lotus in the pot or put directly in your pond? Are they kind of invasive? We have some old round cow watering barrells that I've thinking of digging a hole next to my pond and putting a Lotus in it. Your pond is really looking great!

 

[addy1]

Jen don't mess with the potted lotus until it goes dormant, they are very fragile, you could kill it easily. I would leave it alone until fall when all the leaves die off, then move it for next summer. Feed it well they are hungry suckers.


Pondlover, they can jump pot, ie leave their pot and look for somewhere else to live. I had one do that, found it in a lily pot. They do make massive roots, Mine are in those rope handle buckets in a separate pond from the big pond.

You can see the tub with the lotus top left corner, there are 5 rope buckets in the stock tank