If you have a pond on the site, it will not be a crime to decorate its water surface with beautiful flowers of the nymphaea. And if relatively recently few people decided to start these miracle plants, fearing for their wintering, today many water lilies are being planted to decorate and supplement landscape design.
Nymphaea species
There are several varieties of water lilies, so you need to choose one or another variety, depending on the size of the reservoir, its depth and other nuances.
So, all varieties of nymphs are divided according to the size of:
- small and dwarfish with a flower diameter of 5-15 cm and a depth of planting of 10 to 50 cm;
- medium with a flower diameter of 15-18 cm and a required landing depth of 30-60 cm;
- Large with a flower diameter of 18-25 cm and a landing depth of 50-100 cm.
The easiest way is to find on sale representatives of dwarf varieties of the nymphaea. In their name, the word "pygmy" is often found. For example, N.pygmaea Alba and N.Pygmaea Rubra with white and dark red flowers, respectively. If you want to make water lilies of yellow color, choose a variety of Aurora or N.pygmaea Helvola.
Among the varieties of medium-sized nymphs are popular Rose Arey, Attraction and Gonnere. And for deep-water and large-scale water bodies, such varieties as N.marliacea Chromatella, Escarboucle, James Brydon and Marliacea Albida can be recommended.
Planting nymphs in a pond
Undoubtedly, for the successful cultivation of the nymphaea, it is necessary to begin with competent planting and proper care in the pond. Take a short and wide container with a lot of drainage holes so that the rhizome in it can grow and develop freely. And it is better that the dishwasher was dark in color, so that in the depths of the water less attract attention.
When planting a plant, follow the rules in which it grew before that. That is, if the rhizome was located vertically, the same position should be tried to provide it in a new place. And if the tuber and roots were lying horizontally, you need to put them and cover them with earth, not burdening the kidneys with new leaves.
To plant a nymphaeus, you must use a mixture of clay soil with sand and with a small addition of ordinary garden land. The proportion should be approximately 2: 1: 1. Suitable and silt from a natural reservoir, but only if you are sure of the ecological cleanliness of this pond.
If desired, you can feed the lilies with pond fertilizers, bone meal or a mixture of Kemira Universal with a small addition of superphosphate . Fertilizers must be mixed with soil and water to the consistency of sour cream. And in such a mixture to plant the rhizome of the water-lily. So that the soil does not wash off, you can sprinkle a little pebbles on top.
Care for growing nymphaea
After planting the nymphaea, she needs appropriate care. They grow quite quickly and cover the entire surface of the water. However, at the same time, the decorativeness of the flowers is diminished, which diminishes and ceases to bloom completely. As a result, the reservoir is covered with a solid carpet of green leaves.
For normal flowering, lilies should cover a maximum of half a pond. Therefore, it is not necessary to plant many plants at once. If you want to diversify them in color, it is better to divide different varieties of water strips.
In general, caring for nymphs is quite simple. It consists in the spring
Hibernate the nymphaeas in the film pond at a depth of 50-60 cm from the surface. If desired, you can additionally protect them from frost by throwing snow on the pond. The height of a snowdrift can reach 1.5 meters, which is enough to experience even the harshest frosts.
Undoubtedly, all newcomers are interested in the question of when the nymphaea blooms after planting. So, the flowering of water lilies comes pretty soon. Planted in April or May, the water lily will give its first color in July and will continue to please the eye until the end of September.