66 



IRISH gardening 



fully expanded until dark. Apparently they 

 object to close with the rain drops inside the 

 petals. 



The cultivation of hardy Water Lilies is 

 simple, perhaps hence some of their popularity. 

 Two feet of water is quite sufficient for any of 

 them, too much for several. Only the most 

 vigorous seem happy in more than two feet of 

 water, many will die if planted in a greater 

 depth, and quite a dozen, including some of the 

 most charming varieties, will flower in about 

 fifteen inches of water. The best medium in 

 which bo plant is good rich mud taken from an 

 old pond or ditch. If the pond has already a 

 mud bottom no other material need at first be 

 added ; if the bottom be stony or gravelly, then 

 good beds of mud. or of old loam with a little 

 clean cow manure through it. must be prepared 

 for the young plants. In cement-bottomed 

 tanks or small ponds it is best to place the plants 

 in flat or shallow baskets and to sink them 

 where required. A piece of wire or tarred twine 

 should be placed over the plant close to the 

 crown to secure it in its place, and some stones 

 should be placed on the surface of the soil. If 

 these precautions are not taken the plants, so 

 carefully handled and planted, with the lumps of 

 the soil in which they were planted, will fre- 

 quently, after a day or two, be found floating on 

 the surface of the water. Similar precautions 

 must be taken when planting in mud. or in 

 prepared beds, in larger ponds. A brick, or a 

 piece of flat sione. should be firmly secured to 

 the rhizome, which will retain the plant in 

 position until the roots have taken hold of the 

 soil and so automatically anchored the plant 

 from which they spring ; after that the difficulty 

 will he to remove it, so firmly do these roots take 

 hold The study of roots is an all important one 

 for the gardener. Observation of Water Lilies 

 shows that from early April to June new roots 

 are developed rapidly as the new leaves and 

 flower buds develop, and as the rhizome elon 

 -ales, at which seasnii also many of the older 



roots die away, having faithfully served their 

 functions as collectors of food materials during 

 previous years and as anchors during the 

 winter. This gives the clue as to the linn- bo 

 plant, hut the later ii is deferred the better, as 

 the temperature of the water has also to he 

 taken, into consideration. Nothing is gained by 



planting out small weak pieces, which probablj 

 have been forced on under glass, earlier than the 

 middle of May. By thai time the water, under 

 the influence of the increasing strength of the 

 sun and the warmer nights, will have appreci- 

 ably risen in temperature, and the plants are 

 less liable to get a check from which it generally 

 takes them a long time bo recover. Planters 

 will also find it advisable to establish young 



plants under favourable conditions before 

 planting them in (heir permanent quarters. 

 They can be put in baskets of soil and kept in 

 tubs in a bright greenhouse, or in a warm siinnx 

 corner, covered with a spuarelighl from a frame, 

 until the roots are well at work. Such pie 

 cautions are not necessary where divisions are 

 taken from good strong old plants in ponds. 

 Strong crowns, which are quite hardy, can be 

 planted out at once, and they will soon make a 

 new colony. Where happy most of the hardy 

 Water Lilies increase freely by blanching, and 

 eventually tend to become crowded, with the 

 result that quantities of leaves are produced 

 width by pressing against each other, raise 

 themselves above the surface of the water, and 

 quite smother the (lowers. The leaves are. no 

 doubt, beautiful, but the flowers are more 

 beautiful, and. as both flowers and leaves are 

 required to make a perfect picture, judicious 

 thinning has to be resorted to when the clumps 

 become too crowded. The weaker crowns can 

 be cut out with a large strong, knife, and when 

 severed, if firmly and quietly pulled, sufficient 

 roots to support life can be got away attached 

 to them. In ponds where there is deep rich 

 mud, or where too much cow manure has been 

 given, even comparatively young plants soon 

 get crowd'tl and produce numerous and large 

 leaves and but few flowers, or else the leading 

 buds become what is technically known as 

 " fasciated," and produce a huge round rosette- 

 like bud, with (plant it ies of .small leaves and 

 abortive flowers. 



It is such plants especially which require atten- 

 tion in the way of thinning and occasional 

 disturbance to check them. On the other hand, 

 where quantities of large leaves and flowers are 

 produced, even by plants living in water, a 

 sustaining diet is required. Therefore, when the 

 bottom of the pond is gravelly, or when ponds 

 with cemenl bottoms have to be utilised, care 

 must be taken not to lei Water Lilies, particu- 

 larly the more vigorous growers, suffer from 

 starvation. A little fresh material must be 

 provided during April or May. and there is 

 nothing better than clean cow manure without 

 any straw or litter. The Water Lilies are 

 essentially representatives of still life; they are 

 seen to greatest advantage in a quiel pool where 

 there is but little movement in the water. They 

 do not thrive in running water in fact it is use 

 less trying to establish them in running streams 

 where the movement is rapid. Only one other 

 cultural detail remains to be dealt with 

 namely, cleanliness, [ntending growers of these 

 plants must remember that the conditions they 

 provide for their Water Lilies are also ideal 



conditions for the rampant growth of aggressive 

 water plant tramps and vagrants, in search of a 



