Hi Audrey, Just wanted to add what my sister has done this spring. She is starting up her ponds this year after a 10 year hiatus and uses small swimming pools. She has bought 10? or more lilies already and has had to baby some a bit due to the cold temps we are still having here.The first ones she received had leaves and one had a bloom already. She started by putting them in a plastic tub with an aquarium fish heater in the water. That worked fine until we got the pond going. Then she planted them and put them in the pond but it was too cold and they died back. So she put them back into a small tub with a heater in the water. The batch she bought from Texas waterlilies was very small with just a few very tiny leaves. All went into individual 4 x 4 pots of water and were placed on a heating pad in the green house. Many took right off and went out to the now insulated and covered pond, three needed more TLC but now have many leaves that are about two inches across. The tropical lilies take a lot warmer water (80 -90 degrees for growing) than the hardy lilies so many people grow them as annuals. Here in southern California they usually will winter over but we now live in the high desert and the climate is colder and at times hotter than when she grew them down in the San Bernardino Valley. Check my plant database for the lilies and lotus that we have started. You can see my growing reports. She is also starting lilies and lotus from seeds. Hope this helps.
