Changeable Aurora Hardy Water Lily

[greenthumbnails]

Has anyone had any success growing a Changeable Aurora Hardy Water Lily?  This was my first lily plant acquired and it died from crown rot 2 weeks later.  I read up later that a lot of the yellow water lilies and changeables are more prone to water lily crown rot than other varieties.  What are your experiences?

[karen J]

Interesting. I have Aurora and Indiana. They haven't even come close to my others as far as blooms. I've only had one or two blooms from both of them so far and it's already August. Indiana seems a little worse than Aurora.

[CoolShades]

GTN

Be careful about what you identify as "crown rot".  More than likely that is not what you have, i.e. other reasons tubers fail.  If you truly had crown rot" it would wipe out most of the lilies in your pond.  Best way to identify it is to bring it to your area horiculturist. 

In my habnds Aurora puts up a lot of leaves but it is not a great bloomer.

[Kat]

Good to know that Aurora is not a great bloomer.  I've run into other hardies that are the same way.  Maybe a seperate posting should be started for people to say what lilies blooms well or not.

[LeeAnne151]

I have Chrysantha which is very similar and it is a good bloomer when not shredded by raccoons.....

[Desertponder]

My Aurora is a random bloomer. Mine also puts out a ton of pads and fills the pot up pretty tight but doesn't bloom well. Sometimes it won't even bloom during a growing season.
I have also heard that yellows and changeables are more susceptible to disease. I know I lost my Sunrise over this last winter. It was completely rotten but I feel it happened because it didn't have very good circulation in its overwintering situation.

[SueSTx]

When I'm not happy with the preformance of a lily I repot it.  I have never lost a tuber...knock on wood.  I pulled some late last winter and set them on the ground to put in the compost pile.  After a couple of weeks and several light freezes...they survived in NO water.

In my limited experience...a lily that blooms well one summer may not the next...Usually my fault.  I didn't bother to divide and Osmacote the poor thing especially if it didn't grow well the previous year.  Next spring...I'm gonna repot everything.  Plants with small leaves and blooms have gotten pulled and repotted in mid summer...then they usually take right off.

[sushi]

I don't know if it is coincidence or it works but I get more blooms if I take off alot of pads.  My Aurora wasn't blooming well and put out tons of pads, so I heavily trim them a few times and get blooms.  I have had many blooms on Aurora the past few weeks.  I just did it again to shady lady and now i have 2 buds.  I'd be curious to hear what the experts think about my theory.

[Kat]

Very interesting on the removal of the pads & the response of more buds.  I'll have to try that with some of my hardies that aren't blooming a lot.

[SueSTx]

Hmmm...I have the tendency to remove pads that have begun to turn yellow.  It is easy to do in an above ground tank.  Maybe that is why a single pot (most have 3 or 4 tubers though) will have 4 to 6 blooms a day.  I tend to over plant terrestrial plants also.  I like lots of blooms.

I also add extra Osmocote when they stop putting up buds and the leaves/stems start getting thin.

[tranquility]

GTN

Be careful about what you identify as "crown rot".  More than likely that is not what you have, i.e. other reasons tubers fail.  If you truly had crown rot" it would wipe out most of the lilies in your pond.  Best way to identify it is to bring it to your area horiculturist. 

In my habnds Aurora puts up a lot of leaves but it is not a great bloomer.

Ditto on both things...in all of my years of collecting lilies...I have never ran across crown rot...I have had lilies fail but, never had any crown rot...as Gary says it is highly contagious...and Aurora is a hearty lily just not a great bloomer...
Lawanna

[Lori]

Thanks for asking this question!  I have been threatening my Auroras for several years now with expulsion from my ponds for being the stingiest blooming lilies I've ever had.  I've told myself I should toss them on the compost pile- it's just hard to make myself do it!  No more excuses.  Out they go! There are plenty of other fantastic blooming lilies needing the space.  My most prolific bloomers are Texas Dawn, Pink Grapefruit, Colorado, Peach Glow and Clyde Ikins. I am in  southwest Iowa and my 3 ponds of lilies suddenly exploded with growth this last week.  I was starting to question my water gardening skills this year, but now I think it just hadn't been hot enough for a long period of time.  Anyone else in my region have the same experience this year?

[tranquility]

Lori I have found the key to aurora doing somewhat well in the blooming department is a heavy dividing every year and lots of fertilization....also more shallow waters...
Lawanna

[Desertponder]

I will try taking a bunch of the pads off my Aurora and see what happens.
Mine gets repotted every year and so far that doesn't seem to make much difference in blooming for me.
I've also been threatening to expel my Aurora from the ponds too. There are other lilies out there I would rather have.

[Kat]

DH & I talked about it & he thinks that because the plant is feeling threatened by the pads being taken off that it will produce more blooms to make seeds for reproduction.

[greenthumbnails]

DH & I talked about it & he thinks that because the plant is feeling threatened by the pads being taken off that it will produce more blooms to make seeds for reproduction.

How many pads should be left on do you suggest?  Or better yet, how many pads maximum should be removed? 

[sushi]

I have taken the all off.  They grow back so quick.