Joyce--need an article to help folks plant lilies in mud pond

[Kat]

Hey Joyce--I'm getting people asking me how to get waterlilies established in a mud pond.  Can your write an article with info?  I've never done it but I'm guessing the plants need protection from critters, etc.  Plus the lilies are usually grown at a depth much deeper than what I'm experienced with. 

Any suggestions/info from anyone that has planted in a "natural" pond/lake please let us know what works for you 

I tried planting lilies in my father's little pond in Oklahoma (before I had any experience), & the dang turtles kept snapping off the lily pads.  The lilies didn't survive.  The fairgrounds have wire cages around their lilies to protect the plants.

Thanks

[marla]

I gave a bunch of lilies (unammed) to my brothers neighbor for their mud pond they have problems with the muskrats getting them....well they got the ones I gave them also.

[Joyce]

All I can say is if you have a mud bottom pond, there is absolutely no way to keep wildlife out without totally enclosing it in a conservatory,
with a poured cement surface all around it and up past the edges of the greenhouse foundation.

People, everyone here, should just accept the wildlife a pond attracts, including the predators and deal with it.
If you're not able to deal with it, don't have a pond. It's that simple.

So what works for me, is planting the pond, stepping back and watching mother nature do her thing.
Large lilies go in deeper water up to 4-5 feet deep, smaller lilies go in the shallows.
Don't know how a plant grows, what it likes? Google it and find out.
If a muskrat comes, pray to the 'birds of prey' goddesses and gods. 
I do occasionally 'ping' blue herons and egrets with an air pistol, but not to kill or harm, just at the loose tail feathers for a sting,
and never let 'em know where the ping is coming from. In other words...don't let them associates seeing you with getting a ping.
They've gotta learn to associate being at the pond with getting a ping. Then they'll stop coming. 

Here's an article I was asked to write for WGI...
http://www.watergardenersinternational.org/journal/1-4/joyce/page1.html

[Kat]

Thanks Joyce 

[Joyce]

Kat, I hope I didn't sound 'short'. 
Just was being realistic. Seems like a lot of people can't get a grip on the reality of wildlife and ponds. 
Sometimes I feel like jumping in on a post and screaming, "WTF did you expect when you built it??!!!!!!!!!!!" ....but I bite my lip...HARD. 
In the case of a mud bottom pond, or really any pond, you can't have it all.   
Unless you build it inside your house.  And then don't expect your pets to leave it alone.