PURPLE WATER LILY

 PURPLE WATER LILY

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

09/VII/2023

 

Our purple water lily bloomed after a gap of a couple of weeks. One had lost hope because it returned from the dead. Somehow, it knew how bad we felt and rejuvenated itself for us again.

 

One finds lots of videos on the net on how to grow water lilies from seeds. Now that we had a small fish tank, we could grow them. Seeds were ordered online. Mind you, growing these seeds has a technique.

 

‘Kichad’ or mud had to be created, with layers of garden soil, compost, and clay. Clay being the topmost layer. The rest could be mixed 50-50 in a tub. We had an empty bonsai pot without a hole. That became our container for this experiment. It wasn’t that deep enough but one had to try.

 

Lily seeds are very hard and tough. Soaking them in water is no guarantee that they would sprout. Each seed has a flat and a pointed end. The flat end had to be sandpapered, till the white portion of the kernel shows. Then it is supposed to be immersed in its pot.

 

Our neighbours were renovating their house. I requested their contractors for a sheet of old and used sandpaper, which he willingly gave. In return, I gave him some seeds as he showed a lot of interest in growing them. Now, I have an iron file to scrub the seeds. It is less tiring.

 

Painstakingly, the blunt ends were ‘gissoed’. It is quite an effort. Half the seeds floated, which meant those seeds were hollow and unfit to grow. The ones which sank and settled to the bottom had a chance.

 

Within three days one saw them sprout. In ten days, their stems grew vigorously. In two weeks, we had leaves floating on water. Yessssss…. By and by the leaves dissolved in water and all sprouts perished. We had no way to guess what went wrong. Probably, it was the wrong season when we tried to grow them.

 

Then by chance one saw a nursery ready to send ‘waterlily tubers’ online. They were worth a try. On arrival, most of the leaves were rotten completely. The manual said that even if the leaves perish, plant them, they shall sprout again and they did.

 

This successful attempt made me buy more lily tubers of different colours. Pink ones sprouted this summer, but the white and yellow ones are hiding somewhere. We haven’t seen their buds yet. We are hopeful and have enough patience for them.

 

We  used discarded five litre cans of Bisleri water as containers to sow these pods. These ad hoc pots could be soaked in the big tank and removed without disturbing the other settings of the pond. Fish love to frolic under lily leaves. Plus the muddy surface gives them lots to nibble on.

 

The second pot with another water lily pod was kept in a small fish tank in our veranda downstairs. It is healthy with so many leaves but was sans any lily bud. Could it be due to too much shade?

 

Another experiment was undertaken, when these pots were exchanged. The one below was replaced in the main tank on the roof which was already blooming with a purple lily and vice versa. Hope to see some new colour blooming soon. Will that Lily plant disappoint us? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND
© ® NOEL ELLIS