The author of the text is Katarzyna Pruchniewicz
Water lilies Nymphaea alba L., also commonly known as water lilies or water lilies, are perennials that winter in the ground.It's hard to imagine a garden pond without these showy plants.
Flowers with fleshy petals in the colors white, yellow, orange, pink, red can be up to 25 centimeters in diameter. They only open during the day. The minimum temperature required for flowering is 18ºC.The flowers have a gentle scent (they only bloom for 3-4 days) and are mostly pollinated by insects. After flowering, the flower stalk twists in a spiral, drawing the developing fruit under the water.
Depending on the size of the pond, you should select varieties with different growth strength. Apart from flowers, the leaves are also very decorative.They are leathery, rounded in shape, covered with wax, and can be up to 30 centimeters in diameter.They can be green, purple or spotted. The leaves have a long petiole, up to 2 meters. They float on the surface of the water thanks to the numerous air chambers in the leaf blade and petiole.
Fleshy rhizomes hibernating in the substrate can grow up to 1 meter in length.Once in a few years, when the leaves begin to rise above the surface of the water and the flowers become smaller and less numerous , the rhizome should be dug up in spring, divided into several parts and planted again.
Planting and caring for water lilies
Water lilies should be planted in calm, still water, away from fountains or water runoff. Plants should be planted directly into the ground, preventing the rhizome from flowing out, or in plastic openwork containers.The substrate should consist of 2/3 heavy clay garden soil and 1/3 part of peat.
Water lilies thrive well in soft and acidic water with a pH of 5.5-7.0. We plant the plants from mid-May. Mushrooms love the sun, and only some varieties bloom profusely in a partially shaded pond. It is advisable to fertilize the plants every year. Use only nitrogen fertilizers.
Under no circumstances should they contain phosphorus, which leads to the development of algae, undesirable inhabitants of a pond or pond.In spring, until mid-June, you can fertilize with horn meal . It contains about 15% nitrogen and is insoluble in water.
It is broken down only by microorganisms in the root zone of the plant.Strongly developing varieties of lilies need about 50 grams of fertilizer. If the pond freezes to the bottom in winter, the plants should be dug up and stored in water in a room protected against freezing temperatures.
The herbal raw material of water lilies are rhizomes, leaves and flowers. Fresh flower extract has a calming and calming effect.The infusion of dried leaves was used in folk medicine for respiratory diseases.The roots in combination with iron s alts were used to dye intense green, and old rhizomes - black. The water lily is strictly protected in Poland.
