Today’s big change in the new pond is the water lilies arrived. I’ve planted them up and they’re looking really good in the pond after settling in for a couple of hours. I was skeptical buying them on eBay, in bare-rooted form. But the price is so much better and I think they’re going to survive. At the local nursery they wanted $40 for a larger, established water lily in a pot. On eBay I got 10 (there were actually 11 in the package) including Express postage, for under $35.
Pictures below of them before and after planting. I planted the four largest two to a pot in larger pots, and also 2 of the smaller ones in a small pot together. this feels like a perfect use of the ‘smart pots’ so that’s what I’ve used (with soil, manure, sand and pebbles as per Gardening Australia suggestion).
When I went back to check on them a couple of hours later there were many little (and big) clumps of tiny bubbles. I first thought these were frog spawn, but they are all over the place so I suspect they’re actually just tiny air bubbles that have risen from the lily plantings.