In a pond in z6 with only 5 hrs of sun and only 3 months of 70+degree water (unless I put a heater in it), is the designated spread of a tropical lily accurate? Like a terrestrial perennial, do they get leggier – longer stemmed – with less light? Do they produce less pads in a reduced growing season? Does the combination of these factors mean they require less than the full stated spread?
I have a still-naked 8 x 5 x 1.5 lily-only pond. My plan was to put hardies in four 20” x 9” quarter-barrel sized black pots. (“So very cost effective! They can just be wintered over,” I conned, er, explained to my husband, already peeved by the painfully-expensive, 10x-over-budget koi pond build last year.)
But this was before I spent the winter reading here about tropicals. (Oh yes indeedy. Gotta get me some of these.) Now I want to keep only one pot of a hardy (because I already have one), two pots of tropical and one pot with a night bloomer. (Medium spread)
Will they place nice and share the space?