The Culture of Water Lilies 
Success will follow if you observe 
these instructions 
Location —The pool or water garden should be ex¬ 
posed to the full sun. The depth should be from 18 
inches to 3 feet; the best depth for all purposes is 2 
feet. 
Preparation —Any good garden soil mixed with 
about one-fifth of well rotted cow manure; spread 
over the floor of the small pools to a depth of 10 or 
12 inches; cover the top with one inch of sand and 
level off well. 
Planting —The lily tubers should be planted in the 
soil so the crown of the plant is just out of the sand. 
Place Lotus tubers about four inches under the soil, 
and in a wild pool, partition off from the other lilies 
with a brick wall to keep them in the desired location. 
In large pools where it is desired to place the 
plants in boxes, the boxes should be 2x2 feet square 
and one foot deep, made of Oregon pine, allowing 
one box for each lily. Caution: do not use redwood 
lumber. 
Where group planting is desired in large pools, 
boxes can be made any desired size allowing about 
2 feet each way for the number of plants to the box. 
In wild planting, to fill the pool for the first time 
with water, it is a good plan to wet the bed first with 
a spray from the hose after the lilies are set and then 
lay the hose on a burlap sack and fill very slowly; 
this will not disturb the planting and will give you a 
nice clear pool. 
All sub-aquatics should be planted in shallow 
water not over an inch or so deep for the best results. 
Do not run too much fresh water in pool, just fill 
Tip the evaporation. 
