|
|
|
 |
|
 |
| Pools, ponds, and plants |
Selecting the Site
The selection of a site for your pool usually amounts to deciding
where it will look best; actually, however, there are few places where a
pool won't look and do well. The only limiting factor to any site is the
amount of sunlight that falls upon it. Hardy water-lilies require a minimum of four hours of sun a day.
The more they get, over and above that, the more vigorously they will grow and the better they will bloom,
but in any spot where they get the four-hour minimum they can be
depended upon to give satisfaction. The tropicals won't do their best
with less than five or six hours of sun daily.
Night-blooming tropicals require as much sunlight as any of the
others. Contrary to what seems to be a popular opinion, they draw only
moral support from the moon.
Checking the Site
For Sunlight
If you are doubtful about a site, check it, by all means, before you
get started. If you have a spot in mind and there are other flowers there
now, rest assured that water-lilies will do as well or even better.
Otherwise, stretch out a length of garden hose or clothesline in a figure the size and shape you want for your pool and in the place you
have selected. Then check the spot several times during a day when the
sun is shining, and you will know all you need to know about sun requirements. If the shifting shade of a tree barely edges out the needed
amount of sunlight from an otherwise desirable spot, a little judicious
pruning may let in enough sun to allow you your preferred location.
Overhanging Trees
A word of warning about trees. I tell customers every year that a
water-lily planted under a tree will not bloom. It will produce foliage,
but it will not bloom. At least once a year somebody sends in a letter
that makes a liar out of me. Often the letter is accompanied by a snapshot of a water-lily blooming beautifully from a tub or barrel in the deep
shade of a spreading tree. All I can say, into the teeth of such challenges,
is that these are freak blooms that just happen, like the dandelions
that sometimes come up in February. Believe me, there is no such thing
as a "shade" species of water-lily. If there were, and I had access to it,
I could retire comfortably after one season of selling it.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
