Years ago I attempted to grow water lilies in the dam. It was a complete failure to the point that I had pretty much decided to give up on it. But Dad had other ideas.
His first attempt was to plant them in giant barrels in the lake:
From Dad's description:
I have filled 3 of my large blue barrels with fresh water in place in the dam in front of the veranda to experiment with whether water lilies work this way.... When you come and if you wish to have a deck made over these pots, which stick up above the high water line by 8 inch or so, we will discuss the configuration... I will progressively lower the plant pot to the bottom of the barrel as instructed... Once it is settled in the water it should generate more and more leaves, and ultimately flowers. They are setup in pots by the garden shop so I didn't need to do anything but suspend the pot from the top until the leaves were floating. But they must be in deep water to flower. I will also put fresh water to them when you have decided the configuration of the pots and shape of the surround decking
But this turned out not to work. In the time between Dad's visits it was so hot that the water in the barrels evaporated, so it was unsustainable without someone there to top it up. Not to mention the problem of the water stagnating. So then Dad came up with an alternative plan -- suspending them in the dam directly inside an old bag he'd had for filling concrete, which let water in at the seams, to protect from yabbies. I can imagine this looking a lot better than the barrels, so long as the bag goes down with the water level and we get some less obtrusive planters. Note too the bonus of the little pontoon Dad built with the no longer needed old barrels! I reckon if we got this covered with some decking it could be surprisingly cute. :)
His first attempt was to plant them in giant barrels in the lake:
From Dad's description:
I have filled 3 of my large blue barrels with fresh water in place in the dam in front of the veranda to experiment with whether water lilies work this way.... When you come and if you wish to have a deck made over these pots, which stick up above the high water line by 8 inch or so, we will discuss the configuration... I will progressively lower the plant pot to the bottom of the barrel as instructed... Once it is settled in the water it should generate more and more leaves, and ultimately flowers. They are setup in pots by the garden shop so I didn't need to do anything but suspend the pot from the top until the leaves were floating. But they must be in deep water to flower. I will also put fresh water to them when you have decided the configuration of the pots and shape of the surround decking
But this turned out not to work. In the time between Dad's visits it was so hot that the water in the barrels evaporated, so it was unsustainable without someone there to top it up. Not to mention the problem of the water stagnating. So then Dad came up with an alternative plan -- suspending them in the dam directly inside an old bag he'd had for filling concrete, which let water in at the seams, to protect from yabbies. I can imagine this looking a lot better than the barrels, so long as the bag goes down with the water level and we get some less obtrusive planters. Note too the bonus of the little pontoon Dad built with the no longer needed old barrels! I reckon if we got this covered with some decking it could be surprisingly cute. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment