Oh no I don't really mind swimmers, I swim every day but I do try to keep the mud stirring down. But fear not, your welcome to swim with the lilies. But you don't need waders just swim right up to them and stick your face in the flowers and just stand there and enjoy them at face level. All you need is a swimsuit. I also have air mats that you can float on and get the same in your face experience. I probably spend more time than almost anybody else with my face stuck in lily flowers. Almost every day for 2 or more months during breeding season from the crack of dawn till about noon or 1 o'clock. I love my job! Maybe eventually I'll even make money at it. Swimming around and drinking nectar is fun and tasty, you'll like that. Yea bee balm, bergamot, same thing. I want to get some, What is it , cardinal flower I think. It's a lobelia I think, along the same color lines as red bee balm. I know where some grows down by the river. Is that the hardy banana that will overwinter in our area under mulch. I hear they will take 15 below. If not do you bring it in the house for the winter? Around my ponds I've planted every native carex species I could find growing locally in ditches and ponds etc along with several elocharis species like spike rush, Chinese water chestnut and square stem rush. some wool grass and bull rush. I also have a giant bulrush that grows 6 to 8 FT. high and as big as your little finger that is really beautiful but it spreads and moves into deep water and competes with my lilies so I've been trying to eradicate it from my big pond. luckily it's easy to kill I just break it off underwater and it drowns and dies like cattails do only more so. For your enjoyment, this plant has run of the mill flower color but the leaves are so beautiful. They are so smooth that they look fake. Very waxy flat laying multi colored striped and splotched leaves that range from beautiful shades of red on young leaves, to chartreuse with red splotches, to brown, to dark green with light green stripes to very dark green all on the same plant at the same time. Definitely a breeder or at least a keeper for me to enjoy. I cant remember if it makes seed or not. The seed bag in the pic may indicate that it does. If so I may already have seedlings of it growing right now. I just planted over a thousand sprouts and am getting ready to plant another thousand more that are just sprouting. And that's just the beginning. The spring rush is on!