Here's my water lily experiment. I put several in the pond last summer and none survived. I was told that it was probably the hard shell turtles that did them in. Sooooooo, I'm trying one more time, and if this doesn't work, I will give. I built narrow mesh cages, about 3' in diameter and 2' tall, and staked the first one down to the bottom of the pond. I'm in about 1.5' depth. I hope that the cage will not only keep critters away from the lilies, but also control the spread of the lilies. I don't think that they would "take over" the pond, but don't want to take a chance. There are two rhizomes in the basket.
I've got to mix up another batch of potting media and then I will repeat this with the last two water lilies. I am using milk crates as my baskets, lined with shade cloth to keep the media in place. I am using 4 stakes but will add two more if the mesh doesn't hold it's semi-round shape.
