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Water Lilies Print E-mail
"Water Lilies - you can keep those!
They overgrow the whole pond every few years!
Then I have to rake through the mud for a whole day to get rid of them!"
There are always people who are happy to receive such 'presents'. Until they have to get into the pond with a chainsaw themselves to cut away through roots as thick as their arm.

And then they look for someone to whom they can give the stuff...

...who then...

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Water lilies are an enrichment for every pond. Small varieties only need 1-2m² of space even after 10 years.
To Make it Clear
A gardener can quickly cultivate varieties that grow fast. These are cheap and are sold where such low prices are used to impress.
Prices quickly drop if several metres of growth per year can be cut off for sale.
On the other hand: What grows slower is also necessarily more expensive. Varieties that only grow a few centimetres per year have to be the most expensive.
This slow growing variety has not left the area of its basket after 8 yeas, This slow growth allows for little 'harvest'.
A variety with a medium growth rate has covered 6m² in the same period. The more the gardener can harvest, the cheaper the variety gets.

What do you want?
If you want your pond covered with water lilies as quickly as possible you need the fast growing varieties. But then you will have to climb in and reduce them at some point...
If you want less work, you need the so-called half-dwarfs. Planted in April/May, they usually get 2-5 flowers that same year. But they spread out slowly.

The giant variety 'Pöstlingsberg' can overgrow 100m² in 3 years.
The delicate 'white pygmy' covers less than half a square metre in 10 years.

Our Recommendation:
It is better to spend 5 Euros more than dig around in pond sludge for hours. 2-3 different coloured half-dwarfs are better than one giant water lily. The types are not only different in colour, they also behave differently: Many bloom mainly in June/July, others bloom without breaks until the first frost arrives.

Fritz Junge: A very attractive variety that flowers well even in bad weather.
Norma Geyde is a larger half-dwarf with a large flower.
The NaturaGart
Water Lily Assortments
Of course you can purchase all varieties singly. Next to the ones listed in the Shop we have another 50 or so types in our show and cultivation ponds.
If you want to save money, you can purchase one of our assortments. Their composition ca, however, vary.
Combine several different colours for best effect.
Apart from the colour, the shapes also vary. This is the 'Newton' variety.
Tropical Water Lilies
They are not winter resistant and have to be taken out of the water for the winter.
In warm weather, however, these blue or red varieties flower sedulously until frost arrives and thus close a gap: When the winter resistant types flower less strongly in summer, these tropical varieties are in top form. In years with a lot of rain, however, they may lag behind expectations.
 
There are many blue types, but only few are really suitable.
This light violet variety flowers especially well, but its flowers are not very large.
Water Lilies Need Fertiliser
Most water lilies are planted too deep. In the deepest spots of the pond mud accumulates, over-fertilising the water lilies with nitrogen so they form large leaves but few flowers.
A better location is at just 40-80cm depth. When the water lily half-dwarfs are then given some fertiliser they will form many more flowers.
 
This is the ideal depth. This way water lilies can easily be fertilised.
The different varieties as well as the water lily fertiliser can be found here: NaturaGart Pond Construction Shop: Pond Plants