Other Names:  Beaver Root, Waterlily

Description:

Large, fragrant, white star-shaped flowers with golden centers; bright green leaves with purplish-red undersides; a beautiful addition to your pond; easy to care for; water lilies dislike moving water

Ornamental Features

Fragrant Water Lily features showy fragrant white star-shaped flowers with gold eyes at the ends of the stems from late spring to early summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive large glossy round leaves remain green in color with curious burgundy undersides throughout the year.

Landscape Attributes

Fragrant Water Lily is an herbaceous evergreen perennial with a ground-hugging habit of growth. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other garden plants with finer foliage.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should be cut back in late fall in preparation for winter. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Fragrant Water Lily is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Water Gardens
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting
• Bog Gardens

Planting & Growing

Fragrant Water Lily will grow to be only 3 inches tall at maturity extending to 6 inches tall with the flowers, with a spread of 6 feet. Its foliage tends to remain low and dense right to the ground. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an evegreen perennial, this plant will typically keep its form and foliage year-round.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It is an excellent choice for very wet locations or locations with some standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This species is native to parts of North America. It can be propagated by division.

Fragrant Water Lily is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.