Worcester College Gardeners 2009-2018: Planting Water Lily

Thursday 7 September 2017

Planting Water Lily

A Delivery Of 11 Water Lily

Getting The Waders On

Waders On

With the new waders on Joss and Ali are ready to go in the water to plant the first of the 11 water lilies that were delivered earlier today from Anglo Aquatic Plant. The three different varieties of water lily (Nymphaea) have been ordered specifically for the depth of each body of water they are to be planted in, the varieties are:

Nymphaea 'Marliacea Rosea', large pale pink blooms,
Nymphaea 'Joey Tomocik', deep lemon blooms,
Nymphaea 'Albatross', brilliant white flowers

In The Water

Passing The Lily

The first of the water lilies to be planted were the six Nymphaea 'Marliacea Rosea', their new home, the two shallow ponds by the Sainsbury /Nash building weir. Recently refreshed, see blog entry of the 10th August. 'Gravel Lining The Weir Pools', each of the lilies were carefully lowered in to the water, submerging them beneath the water and down on to two bricks that had been placed on the new gravel floor of the pools.

Carrying The Slab

Dropping The Slab

Moving The Water Lily

Once these lilies had been put in place the team moved round to the two deeper pools in front of the new Sultan Nazrin Shah Centre (SNSC). Simon took over from Ali and, with the waders on, joined Joss in the first of the pools. This time instead of bricks to support the lilies, due to the size of the baskets, slabs were used, carefully dropping them in to the water to sit beneath and support them. Three Nymphaea 'Joey Tomocik' were gently lowered in to the water of the first pool followed by three Nymphaea 'Albatross' in to the second. In both locations the lilies have been planted away from the rippling water created by the pump and the flowing waters of the weirs, water lilies prefer still water, in these conditions they should spread between 60-100cm and start to flower between June and September of next year.