Louis' meager collection

[louis]

hi everyone,
been a too long time. hope all is well with everyone. I am more of less out of the waterlily business. Last year, all my prized tropicals and my own hybrids were destroyed by the deer, they left me nothing but the pots.

I picked up an Albert Greenberg from a local watergardeninging center and will treat it as an annual. The plant has one pond all to itself and it has a 10 foot spread. The pads are 18 inches long and almost as wide. the blooms are huge at 8 inches.  Also i have a new hybrid lily that i got this spring. immediately the deer pulled it out of the pot and ate most of it. it has come back and its stunning with the speckles and stripes. they also ate the tag also, so i don't remember which one it is. can anyone help me with the name?

i also have tons of pink ribbons and texas dawn. gonna stick with the hardies. oh, and the deer keep the pads trimmed about 3 feet from the pond's edge.

So, I decided to fight them. I bought a cattle electric fence and have it around my raised pond. i packs a 5000 volt zap. i put it in two months ago and the plants in the pond are fantastic. i have the electric fence on a timer, it goes on at 8 pm and off at 8 am. funny thing, the day after i installed it i found the fence wire bent and a pile of deer poop on the grass. i assume he or she got the xxxx scared out of them. they have not been back in that pond since.

all your photos and plants are grand. its nice to see a lot of the old timers here.

cheers,

Louis

[Kittyzee]

Stunning photos of beautiful subjects: but why would we expect anything less?!  I got a kick out of your deer story, now that would have been a great video!  So good to hear from you again!

[SueSTx]

Your photos are amazing as usual.  The color of the Pink Ribbon is spot on.

Is the last lily Wanvisa?  It is georgous what ever it is.

[miguynmkoi]

Sorry you have hungry deers in the hood.  Funny story though.  You do have some beautiful lilies and the photography of them...fantastic, of course.

[CoolShades]

Hi Louis good to see your photos again!  Deer have always been a pain in my neck too.  At my Chadds Ford house I built copper trellis's that kept them at bay until they learned they could jump over them into the pond.  All I can say is they are persistant!  Good luck with the fence!

gary

[CMM]

Love your lily photos. I have one 'bud' right now. Have not had lilies for a few years. I don't know what kind I have - not even sure what color the bloom will be. It was just something i picked up at Wal Mart and have been nursing along for 2-3 years. Everything nearly died last year - horrible hot weather was even hard on my pond! And, sadly, being a 'fair weather' person, I neglected the pond last summer - since temps hovered near or over 100 for a month or more in the St. Louis area.

This year things are looking better and I am back to 'playing in the pond' again..............

[louis]

Sue, yes that last lily is Wanvisa. She is a non stop bloomer. Grows  and multiplies like crazy.
Blooms are quite large and stand high like a tropical. I would say the blooms are around 7-8 inches in diameter.

I have managed to keep the deer away with the electric fence. And also kids, dogs and next door neighbors.

I stop in once in a while to see what is going on. Lots of nice stuff here as usual.

Louis

[CoolShades]

AN old post revived, with even better new photos!  Excellent photos my friend, I hope everything is well in the NE.  The weather has been tough for you guys this Spring/Summer.

Cheers,

Gary

[greenthumbnails]

Was wondering how the deer were able to get to pots in the center of your pond....how deep can they wade into the water?!

[SueSTx]

I have seen deer swim across the river in deep water.