Lilies

 By Harry Hutchings BSc. AMPS Timberland Watergarden

This article was originally published in the International Water Garden Society journal, The Water Garden Journal, and has been published on this site with the kind permission of Harry Hutchings and the International Water Garden Society 

The United Kingdom (UK) climate is not suitable for tropical waterlily cultivation outdoors. Please, however, do not overlook the beauty of these plants. It is not too expensive to create a stunning display.
I have 5 glasshouses of sizes from 6 ft. x 8 ft. up to 12 ft. by 24 ft. I also utilize the much cheaper poly tunnel option in which I have many 1m x 3m fiberglass tanks as used by aquarium and pond suppliers to keep their fish. However, the glasshouse pond gives the more presentable display.The Harry Hutchings tropical garden plan
A good size as a start is 10 ft. x 12 ft. Please avoid the cheap spring clip glazing types. Go for the glasshouses with strip sealed glazing. These have better security against high winds and also have a construction that allows the use of the expanded polystyrene sheets for internal insulation.
A pond needs to be excavated and a liner used. Choose butyl with under liner if you can afford it. If not, at least choose a liner that will withstand a lot of foot traffic. Your tropical lilies will need a lot of attention, as you will see later.
If you can, orientate your glasshouse with your door facing south. This will allow the garden section to be on the north face, which is essentially at the back. Construct the pool size 8 ft. wide by 10 ft. long. 18 inches deep is sufficient for most tropical waterlilies. A margin of 15 inches at the back is filled with a mixture of peat and sterilized loam based topsoil. The side 12-inch wide strips are filled similarly. A front 9-inch margin is to be used for the equipment. I construct the pool using 3 inch deep x 2 inch wide treated softwood to form the frame to which I nail the liner...this allows me to use “decking” cut to 9 inch lengths for the front equipment strip. Using a similar strip of treated wood as the front support, I insulate the north face (the back) and the east and west (sides) back panels with white expanded polystyrene sheets. Those sold in the trade-building store around 1/2-inch thick you will find slide nicely into the internal upright pillar recesses. This is not possible with the cheaper spring clip glazing models I mentioned earlier. I also cover the back two roof panels either side with UV protected bubble polythene sheeting using twist ties to secure it. Despite the UV protection treatment, this will need replacing every few years so have some planks of wood handy to span the pond for this maintenance.

Deep-water aquatics - the water lilies in particular are the main reason why so many people would want a water garden where ‘garden’ is the operative word, rather than ‘water garden’ for the sake of having fish. TheyNymphaea Gonnere is another white, but a 'double' - a multi-petalled variety. are plants of exceptional beauty and dark mystery abounds around them even to this modern day. They are gross feeders and so effectively use up a lot of the excess nutrients in a pool. Their leaves, lying as big flat pads on the surface, are the most efficient cover and shade on the pool when it is most required, when spring burgeons into summer.
Allow one lily to every 25sqft of pool surface if it is classified as a moderate to vigorous grower.
They come in all sizes and colours apart from blue that will be hardy in the UK, up until this year that is. You will find varieties suitable for growing in tubs or the shallow margins of the ponds like the small pygmaea hybrids wallowing in a mere 15-20cm, through to the giant hardy juggernauts like Nymphaea ‘Collosea', a cream coloured lily and N. Gladsoniana, a white, happy in depths up to 1 metre and with spread up to 2.5 metres.

 Many people wonder what happened to the Water Lily nursery built up by Joseph Bory Latour Marliac  in Temple-sur-lot in South West France at the end of the 19th century. It has just recently been injected with a new lease of life and is once again selling plants, all over Europe, just as Marliac did himself.