My water lilies are just starting up this year. They are about 3-4 weeks behind schedule.

I've never seen them at the store without any sign of life........and there is usually some moisture in the plastic bag. I just didn't want to risk it, when I could get a sure-thing somewhere else.

My lilies have put out several leaves already.........although one lily doesn't look like it made it through the rough winter, even though it was in a protected place.

I called the Holland Bulb Company in Michigan, who sells the Drop and Grow waterlilies and the woman told me that the tubers are still good and said they would absolutely grow, once in water. So........I'm giving it a try. Just bought a Sulphurea and it's in water, so we'll see. If it doesn't grow.........I'll take it back to Menards.
oops......I might have meant the Michigan Bulb co.

This post was edited by catherinet on Mon, May 19, 14 at 17:12

My James Brydon lily came from one of those drop bags. First year it was in my container pond (AKA the big pot with water in it). I moved it to a main pond and cut it free from the netting and coconut fiber and replanted it into a netpot with pea gravel.

If I recall, it was pretty dead looking when I got it. I've had mixed luck with the drop and grow type hardware store water plants. I've had cattails and pickeral weed that did nothing, others that grew like mad

Yes, it is sort of a "crapshoot". I've had pretty good luck with the drop and grows in the past......although I think one of them started out pink and ended up white. I guess you get what you pay for.
I'm really surprised this previous lily didn't make it through the winter. I had it buried in the ground in a very protected area outside the house. Oh well......maybe it just got old.

I have the new tuber in water and maybe it's my imagination, but little brown bumps on it are starting to enlarge. We'll see how it goes.
Funny thing.........I cut one of my water irises in half, to thin it, and threw the one half on the ground. We had an extremely cold, snowy winter.......and that thing is growing like mad, just laying on the ground. hahaha

I potted it up awhile back and still no sign of life. I think it's a gonner. I'm taking it back to Menards and getting my money back.

You can probably find some pond nut, listing full size flowering plants, fresh as a daisy on craigslist. chug 'waterlily' or 'hyacinth' into the search

No need to be stuck with some dead stump out of a box, or the junk plants that get dumped on that squalid and iffy ebay

Alas, middlemen and resellers just don't have what you can find, direct from a collector or grower. They tend to buy cheap, sell dear...

I actually found a Charlene Strawn at a nursery not too far from here. Only $20. She's growing now. :)

I've tried 2 and returned both and they smelled rotten and where mushy after a couple weeks!!!

This is the first year I ever saw them for sale at Menards with no leaves whatsoever. When I called the company that sells them to Menards, they said it was a hard winter, but they would come to life once in water. Well, I believe they were always dead. I wonder how many people all over found this to be true of the "Drop and Grow" lilies?
Next time, I will never buy one that doesn't have some green growth....no matter what anyone says about them coming back to life.

My lilies from Menards are just starting to bloom. They are doing much better after I moved them into more sunlight in the pond. One mistake, I made, I think, was I thought it was dirt in the bottom of package ----but I suspect it was the fertilizer that was included in the package . So I put a tomato spike in the container. I believe they will be just fine, but later than usual.