Wife is on board

[reddad35]

 Well by on board I mean she agrees. Yes, shes still with me.  I have decided to build a bog/ lily garden. This will be raised and falling into main pond. Well the water only, I hope. Anyway, I was looking at some raised lily gardens and had a question.

To all of you lily raisers out there: What is the optimum depth of a lily garden?

My pond is 5.5' deep with a large shelf. It has no mid range shelf though. (I did find this site AFTER construction)

I have 2 lillies that bloomed once in the am and I never saw them again. WEEEEE fun while it lasted but my wife never even saw them. I added an aerator and now my lily stems are 4 feet long with little tiny pads.

Any help on the depth is greatly appreciated. Since I have the go ahead, time is really of the essence.

[Esther]

Could you build stands for your lilies out of PVC? I know, it's too late now for this year. I think I put pictures of plant stands on the DIY sub forum. http://www.americanponders.com/forum/index.php?topic=819.0  I have several that I use in the living room that are maybe 36" tall. You'd just adjust them for whatever length you needed. I didn't glue them so I could take them apart but maybe with yours being so tall, you'd need to for stability.

[MikeW]

I built mine 4' deep for koi, then decided on lilies and goldfish - sometimes I hate being a Gemini - but a quick trip to Staples for file folders - black plastic thingies that look like milk crates - will fix that problem ASAP . I have two interlocking crates underneath each lily - you might need three.

Cheers,

Mike

[Missa]

I could be wrong but it seems to me, he's not asking how deep to put lilies in his pond .... he's building a new lily pond & would like advice on how deep to make it.

If it were me, it would be 18" to 2' .... but of course, I don't know much about your winters & what lilies may need to survive said winters.

[reddad35]

 Thanks everyone,

I have a pond 5.5' deep. I am wanting to build a lilly pond for flowers only. My wife will put goldfish in it. I am hoping to find out what the best depth for lillies might be. I have a heated garage for wintering. I need to know from experienced growers what optimum depth is. Thanks for your replys.

[Desertponder]

I would go 2 to 3 feet. Many of my lilies are in as little as 18 inches of water and they do just fine but if I were building something I would probably do 2 to 2 1/2 ft. if its just for lilies and no fish involved.

[Ky Kim]

Being your in IN, and your zone is similar to mine.  I think it would be good to be 18 inches to 2 feet.  My first little preform was only 18 inches and my lilies did fine during the winter.

Kim

[Esther]

For me, I don't care how deep the flowers need or the fish. The way I decided was to stand with both feet planted firmly on a flat surface. Then I bent over extending my hands down to the floor. I turned my head to the side. Then my husband measured up to my nose. That's how deep my pond is mostly. I wanted to be able to reach easily to the bottom to retrieve stray rocks that fell in or pots that might tip over, or even leaves off the bottom. Sounds stupid but when I had the string algae invasion, I'm sure glad I did it that way. Another thing, when your pond is REALLLLL deep, you can't easily see the bottom or scoop the bottom to get up the crud when you want. I know, the professionals won't agree with my reasoning but I'm happy with the depth of my pond. I have healthy Koi and lilies both. Oh, it goes from 24 inches to 30. The 30 is at the opposite end from the waterfall and closest to the skimmer and my front porch.

[miguynmkoi]

Good for you!    I just built a lily pond and it is 3+ft deep.  Still working on the waterfall....  Besides all the lilies (from Kat (mostly) and others) I have shubs, wakins and fancies.

Did your fertilize the lilies for maximum growth and flowers.

[Johns]

3 feet deep.

[marla]

We put in a lily pond last year, it varies in depth from about 12" to 3'.  I use the 12" depth for young lilies till they develop, and also my smaller lotus.  Most all of my hardies are in the 2' or deeper range and the tropicals are in about 18" or in the deeper area but sitting up on milk crates.  I also have marginal shelfs varing in depth and width so I can place smaller lilies/lotus on those.