Very cool. I would think the rapid open is related to the being so stuffed full of petals, but I haven't grown this type, so don't know. My own lotus open very slowly, but have far fewer petals.

Alice - That bloom is fabulous! So many petals! Eye candy for sure!

I do fertilize my lotus and waterlilies, but the weather here has been so unpredictable, that maybe that has something to do with it. I often don't get blooms every year. More like every other year. And the waterlilies produce blooms later like in late July or August. They are just late bloomers here if they bloom at all. I get plenty of leaves though.

Thanks Becky and Paul.

Becky, you are right the weather has been very strange this year. The lotus started getting the first leaves in late January - much earlier than normal. I am in 9a so a bit cooler than you are but, like you said, I think you must just have late blooming varieties.

I am trying tropical waterlilies and a compact lotus for the first time this year. Our nights and days were too cool this spring to put them out until the very end of May, and we still have nights in the high 50s. So far, all I have is slow growth -- the plants are up to 5 leaves each now.

I was expecting more lushness, but maybe this is normal up north?

SunnyinMichigan said: I am trying tropical waterlilies and a compact lotus for the first time this year. Our nights and days were too cool this spring to put them out until the very end of May, and we still have nights in the high 50s. So far, all I have is slow growth -- the plants are up to 5 leaves each now.

I was expecting more lushness, but maybe this is normal up north?

I have noticed much slower growth in my pond (and garden) plants this year. Days and night have been cooler.

What a treat for us to see and for you to experience, Alice! Absolutely gorgeous flower.

My dwarf lotus 'Baby Doll' opened a flower today:
This morning:

Around noon:

And closed again this afternoon when the shade from the tree arrived.

Thank you, I have been fer fertilizing like crazy, using double the dose because the water is already so darn hot I pretty much change most of the water 2 or 3 times a week.
I put the hose in and let it run until it flows over side for a while.

Little blue water lily 'Tina' (I think) is so much happier now that it has escaped the pot it was in and is growing in the muck on the bottom of the pond.



Blooming on both the water lilies and the lotus seems to be dependent upon warm water to jump start the leafy growth, and getting enough sun. My little pond doesn't get the sun all day as it's in a sort of 'entry' to our front door, so this time of year when the sun is highest is their best time to bloom. I do give mine the little aquatic plant fertilizer tabs, and they seem to really boost the lotus especially.

Those unusual 80 degree temps we had in January really helped this year.

Yep, my lotus started growing very early this year. I had to completely renovate the tub it was in, divided it up and gave about 20 starts of 'Baby Doll' to a friend with a big pond. I'll have to remember to ask her if her lotus are blooming yet . . .
I just kept a few tubers, and they were languishing in the shade when my trip last month was looming, so I just sank the pot in my pond, and dumped a few shovel-fuls of sand on top of the tubers so the fish wouldn't eat them. I'm relieved they're happy now.

Dividing lotus tubers is not fun, cold mud in winter is a turn off for me. But, I know I have to do it this year.

This was very stinky mud, full of old raccoon poop, since my resident raccoon had been using the tub for a toilet previously. I dumped it out on the ground and rinsed everything with the hose until it didn't stink any more. Then set about untangling the mess of roots and tubers, which are damnably fragile. Yes, it's a miserable job.

I swear I'm not going to leave it that long next time . . .

Lovely, looks like that might be old favorite Attraction.

It might be. It's an unidentified variety that has taken over its small pond entirely (solid rootmass on the bottom), displacing the other varieties that used to be in there. I'll probably tear it out eventually to plant something identified there.

Yep, that sounds like Attraction.