I don't think the pictures in the first post came through...try these

Jackie - Those blooms are gorgeous!!!! Love the color and shape and lots of petals!!!

So sad to see your pond drying up! I hope you get some rain soon! Looks like the Lotus are still doing okay despite not being under water. Must be a lot of heavy and wet mud where they are growing?

Such gorgeous flowers! I just love that hot pink color.

Hello, everyone.

I, too, am addicted to growing lotus. I live in South Florida, half-way between Boca Raton and West Palm Beach. I'll post pictures of my humble set-up and blooms tomorrow.

Take care, all.
Sylvain.

Where do you get the miniature Lotus? I'd love that in my new small pot-water-garden.

Here is my lotus bucket. It's a 30-gallon storage bucket from Big Lots with 4 inches garden soil in it and about 18 inches water. It doesn't look like much, but the lotus are blooming. I am seriously thinking of investing in a set-up that wouldn't be such an eyesore. One day at a time.

Sylvain.

Really cool setup, Sylvain! Did you grow your plants out from seed? I am germinating a set of Nelumbo nucifera and N. lutea now, and am getting excellent results. Now if I can only keep them alive to next spring!

Joseph

I tried repeatedly to grow them from seeds. Inevitably, something happened and they died. Someone gave me my lotus. And for that, I am thankful on a daily basis.

Sylvain.

Hi all, I am thinking about growing lotus in a container but wonder what to do with them in the winter. How do you all store the roots or tubers???

Mandala

There are some that are hardy in your zone.

Nelumbo Shiroman is hardy in NJ
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
I bought it at Waterford Garden in Spring 2010, it came back in 2011, bloomed nicely this Summer and is now dormant.
http://garden.org/thread/view_...
Waterford Garden has some smaller varieties too.
I simply sank the pot last Fall to the bottom of the almost drained pond and let snow accumulate on top of it.
This year I will keep it in a large basin with water next to the pond, since I just repainted the whole inside of the pond one more time and will keep it dry until Spring so the paint can cure longer.

Thanks, Carolyn. I am going to look for hardy lotus for the next spring.

My rubbermaid tubs with lotus and lilies in them looked great all summer....but I didn't think that through real well. Got up the other morning to find a coat of ice on the top! oops!
Guess I need to put on waders and sink the pots in the pond before the tubs burst!
Hope I can salvage the tubs to use again next year. The reason I didn't leave the lilies in the pond all summer is we had a horrible drought and I had to keep pushing the pots further out each day as the pond receded. It's not really a pond, either. It's a stream that we dammed, and when we get a big rain, everything washes downstream. While the water's down, we're trying to dig out an eddy area just for the plants. Hunting season kind of got in the way of finishing that project...
If I have to, I can bring the tubs into the garage and keep the plants there over the winter. How many of you do that?

I brought 2 tropical water lilies into the basement with their water pots last winter, and they did fine (went mostly dormant, even under lights) but I learned from Texas Water Lilies that I was doing it the hard way... their site says just dig up the tuber, rinse, and store in a bag of slightly damp peat moss. Who knew?? LOL

Lotus I think should be hardy... Mine are still outside, planted into double-wall plastic pots (big ones, 20+ inches across) that have been dug 1/3 to 1/2 their height into the ground.

Jill

Interesting, let us know how you do. I never got my tropical waterlilies to do much. For some reason, my fish thought the tropical WL's were far tastier than the usual hardy WL's...

My understanding of the Water Lotus is that there are different kinds and they will tolerate some of the warmer zones outside. I love the lotus, but have not tried them either. My problem is that I just don't have the room for them.

Well, I "lucked into" half a dozen 22" no-hole plastic pots for $5 each (end of season clearance at Lowe's), so I'll have room next year! I've got several similar containers within garden beds and a couple tucked into a new gravel "patio" area, and I really like them! I do add mosquito control bits (maybe a couple of fish next year...) to the pots. They're easier than other containers out there for me, because they don't need daily watering, just topping up every so often with the hose.

Check out the culture info at TWL... I learned a lot from their site! They've supplied co-ops for several years now I think. I found their co-op at MamaJack's last year, and I'm hoping they'll do another.

lotus page: http://www.texaswaterlilies.co...

I looked at Mama Jack's coop but couldn't quite figure it out and didn't want to mess up the system. Apparently lots of people use it quite successfully. I may go back and look. I am trying to resist buying more plants as I am running out of room or only need certain types of plants for the spaces left.

It's a wonderful co-op! It's not so much a co-op as a sale offered to a select group... I think the thread title says "special offer.) Dusty (of TexasWaterLily), through Dianne (dbsmith2) posts a lists of plants available at sale prices. You order by emailing or calling Dusty directly, and be sure to mention that you're part of mamajack's co-op on Cubits so you get the great prices. So, while people often have fun posting what they've ordered or discussing different varieties, posting on the thread is not sufficient to place an order -- you have to place the order with TWL, not MamaJ's.

Clear as pond mud?

The prices on these co-ops are really amazing... often half of her retail price, which in turn is a good $10 better than what I can find the same plants for locally at Lilypons.

I "lucked into" half a dozen big containers (plastic, no-hole, 22" across) on clearance last fall, so I'm all set to put some more pocket-ponds into my landscape. I've got several big containers now, a couple of which have been dug partway into the ground which I hope will help provide winter protection for the hardy lotus & hardy WL. So, I'm shopping!

Just wondering how all your lotus's are doing after ~7 years?

We are converting our 15k gallon swimming pool to a natural pond, and would love to grow lotus, as
well as water lilies, iris, water hyacinth, and more. (started another thread about our project here
The thread "Pool to Natural Pond Conversion" in Ponds and Water Gardening forum

Should I plant the lotus in the shallow end in tubs? I have some seeds, not sure what type of lotus, and
will purchase tubers, too. I found this page on growing lotus, https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-L...
but would appreciate any info, tips, and experience you have.

I saw the link to Texas Water Lilies, http://texaswaterlilies.com/Lo...
and may go there, but will also check local nurseries.

Couldn't wait.....went ahead and ordered 3 from PondPlantsRUs in Ohio.
https://pondplantsrus.com/