Hi, I'm new here

[Jerry]

Marla, one never knows what sort of responses a post will generate. If I had to bet, I'd lose my shirt.  As you see it takes a bit of time , but our membership is second to none, both in knowledge and willingness to share.

[tinkster]

wow marla! first welcome and 2nd,, wow again. your pond is beautiful!

tinkster

[andrew davis]

 
>>I live in zone 4, are there hardy lotus that could survive the pond in the Winter, and if so that would probably have a direct effect on how deep some of the pond should be.

Allow five inches deep mud, a foot or two of water over that, to your freezeline. Bear in mind lotus do scoot around a pond at the rate of twenty feet a year if they wiggle out of a container. Most lotus are hardy, capable of coping with prolonged dormancy, very few truly tropical lotus come onto the market, those don't form tubers

>>I've been looking at different sites at lilies, maybe some opinions on some that you find to be fast growers, and good bloomers, both hardy and tropicals

Among the hardy waterlilies, Odorata hybrids tend to be fast spreading, they can sprawl at the rate of five to fifteen feet a year when established.

Marliac hybrids tend to be more sedate, spreading a foot or so at most a year. Some are better behaved, very cold tolerant hardly spreading out of a tub in ten years time, Froebeli comes to mind. Some of these have exceptional flower to leaf ratios (they bloom more)

Some tropical waterlilies like to be twenty feet wide with two foot lilypads, take care you check their likely size and spreading habit, they do tend to come onto the market with little or no cultivation information critical to the success of the plant

You might find the viviparous varieties have a more suitable size, longer flowering season, excellent reproduction habits. Along with being more cold tolerant they offer a very good chance of saving easy to keep spare plants indoors. A pleasant treat to watch through the long Winters, watching dinky little Tina vip's developing

Tropical night bloom varieties are quite dependable if your Summers are 70°f to 90°f for more than a month, those are excellent at forming tubers in Autumn, which are very reliable and easy to store

Regards, andy
http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l42/adavisus/

[Rocmon]

Um, yes the title of your thread doesn't give folks a good idea of what your asking. I must say you have certainly gotten a great many responses to your thread, but alas not many related to your question.    There are quite a few very knowledgeable folks here about lilies and lotus. A specific thread title to depth for them may bring you answers you can dig with. I can't answer your question as the only ice I see at my pond is a little frozen water near the falls for a few days.

For pond construction http://www.koiphen.com is the best place for information. Another great one is http://www.koishack.com/forums/index.php Both are focussed heavily on koi so they won't really be well equipped to answer your specific question, though they both have watergardening as a sub topic. Koiphen you may find to be a little more user friendly to non koi enthusiasts, just MHO. Many folks here peruse there as well.

To your question. Your pond is beautiful. I would think that even if you build a bigger pond if it is indeed a watergarden for plants it could be planted in such a way that it would be hard to know it's even a pond—it could look much more like a lush part of the garden. If your thinking about fish for it in the future then it's a whole different build. You will want to go at least three feet minimum from what I've read, maybe more for your climate. You will need a couple of filtration devices, bottom drain, pump and more. So think realistically if you will put fish in. I made the mistake of building with thoughts of nothing more than goldfish, and probably not even goldies. My depth is poor, and so is the filtration, but for plants alone it would be a great pond. At just over two feet deep the raccoons feed in spite of electric fence wire, not to mention the plants they pull up. So vertical sides for me was a must, but I didn't... I'm learning from my many mistakes.

                                                    


Another great site for lilies and lotus would be http://www.victoria-adventure.org/water_gardening/water_gardening_index.html

Hope that helps. I'd say welcome but I don't want to wear you out...

[marla]

Hello again, I’ve been sick in bed the last couple days, fever, sore throat, congestion, aching, and my eyes hurt so bad I can only spend a small amount of time on the computer.     First again I must apologize for any toes I stepped on in the beginning of this thread.  I guess I was just so excited about getting the ok and go ahead from my husband. If  I was a bit aggressive as Joyce so kindly pointed out, it was out of excitement not anger.  As everyone else I have a lot of things on my plate, and little time. I am dealing with a home supportive care for my 90 yr old mother-in-law, and also her 85 yr. old sister, who we just had to place in assisted living and we are POA, helping my aging parents, my mom presently receiving another round of chemo, babysitting 2 nights a week, and of course working as a lot of others. I ultimately would love to have this pond accomplished before the birth of our next grandchild in May, which only gives me a few months to plan and execute.  Then I can relax and enjoy him.  Thanks to everyone whom has either welcomed me or helped with my questions.  As some have pointed out, the title to this thread may be a bit misconceiving, and then I tend to ramble, so questions get lost in the content (see I’m doing it here also) I have gotten lots of fantastic opinions and even some other sights I’ve been told to check out.   As for posting here, I will say I won’t go away, sorry you are stuck with me, you all seem to be a great group of people, and very, very knowledgeable.  I’ve also learned to be a bit more patient even in the face of a whirlwind excitement. The responses did come, and I'm pleased, thank you.