I bought a waterlily from a woman on craigslist for 5 dollars it was a small plant it had about 4 or 5 floating leaves a couple of inches across. the leaves are green oval with little cutout shapes on the end closest to the stem. other than that they are smooth. the roots didnt have a horizontal tuber(like my hardy) the roots just came straight down but underneath the roots there was a little bunch of banana shaped roots. when she pulled it out of the water it had what looked like a runner/offshoot with roots on the end which she puled off. she said the flower was yellow. I know its hard without a picture but its already planted and I pulled all the unhealthy or broken stems off already. from the description what do you think. hardy or tropical? Thanks
I think, from your description, that the water lily you bought will be a hardy variety. I have water lilies with the same shape of leaf as yours and the same root system. We had temperatures down to -19C last winter here in Scotland and mine have come back and are growing nicely in the pond now. Tropical water lilies have different shaped leaves and come in a variety of beautiful colors. Hardies tend to be white, red, pink, peach and yellow only. Tropicals have fragrant blossoms which rise to the top of the water and stay there throughout the flowering season. Hardy flowering types blooms tend to be shorter lived.
thankyou with tons of google-ing i think i may have found a match the leaves look identical, the flowers are yellow, they have banana bunch roots, and they send off runners instead of rhizomes. seems to match perfectly. its called a nymphaea mexicana. well see when it flowers i guess.
If your water lily is indeed Nymphaea Mexicana be careful to give it plenty of space to spread as it can be very invasive. I'm afraid to say that in some quarters this yellow lily (although attractive) is considered to be nothing other than a weed as it can be so hard to control. Let's hope yours is a different species that isn't quite so prolific in its habits.
well its a mystery for now. but its only in a one gallon container so ill just have to maintain it frequently.
If you can could you post a photograph of your plant - especially when it flowers for you? Maybe then I could help you to make a 100% positive ID for it. I'm sure that, between us, we'll solve this mystery. :-D
here's pics of the leaf mystery lily ( photo / image / picture from Chubbypoptart's Garden ) there were much larger leaves but they were broken and unhealthy so i took them off. i planted it before i thought about taking a pic of the roots.
I'll post a picture of mine when I get the chance just so that we can compare. I still can't fathom out what type yours is exactly. Once it flowers it should make things easier for us.
Here, at last, is a photograph of my own waterlilies. As you can see the leaf shape is the same as the one you have CPT. The leaves on mine are mainly red, at the moment, as they are just emerging from underwater. They should turn green over the next couple of weeks.
very pretty. i have a hardy tuber with the same color leaves starting to grow. they grow so quickly its amazing! the lily in question however is putting up a new leaf and it has been green since the beginning. hmm just more and more contradictions this little plant has lol
I have an idea that your plant may be another that I have in my pond. It's too dark here now to take a photograph but I'll get one tomorrow. It has similar leaves to our others but they are green from the start. When it flowers the blooms are yellow so it might just be the one you bought. Fingers crossed it proves to be the correct one this time.
Here are photographs of the two yellow flowering plants I have in my pond. 1) Marsh Marigold. Close-up of leaf. However I think this second plant is a stronger contender: Common Yellow Water Lily. If neither of these is the correct one then I hope someone else can give us a helping hand to ID it. My one remaining brain cell is running out of energy!!
Chubby.... Here's a photo from last year of my "Lemon Mist" Is this close to what you have? lemon mist & gold fish ( photo / image / picture from cherylad's Garden )
well the leaves look pretty similar to both the common or the lemon mist. do you guys remember what the root system looks like on your plants? mine did not have a rhizome (like my other lily) it was just long thin roots kind of like a regular plant. and underneath the roots was what looked like a "banana bunch" which is supposedly little baby plants. and remember it sent off runners to make new plants.
