By Warriorking
United Kingdom 
Hi, I have 3 beautiful white large arum lillies in my pond, they have been amazing for the past few years, however this has been luck rather than judgement. I am hoping that you could tell me how best to care for them. They are in a 7ft pond but sit on ledges about 1ft down. I have cut them back each year just to the level of the water, as I am unsure whether u should cut them below the water surface. We have some very savage koi carp which I am afraid may cause the plant some damage if I cut them too far down, or do u think otherwise. I would be very interested in any advice about caring for them, as I would hate to loose any. Also for anybody who has koi and lillies these were a great alternative to lillies on the surface of the pond, which the koi destroy, and they look amazing. I have also just bought a dark red arum which I would like to introduce to the pond, but it is in a pot on my patio, would also like advice about how to introduce this to the pond.
Thx
Maria
9 Oct, 2011
Answers
most water plants arerealy easy and hardy as they basicly have everything they need all round them . the koi do eat plants but there more likley do root threw the basket the plants are in so some nice biggish pebblesthe koi cant lift will work a treat and ofcourse keep t plan on the shelf . realy you dont need to cut them down but i guess they look a bit messy . id be inclined to tidy the pond up in spring myself . i do question the size of your pond for fish that can potentialy grow over 20lb and in there wild form over a 100 pound thow its possible as my mum has proved lol .dont mend something that hasnt broken and it sounds like your doing the right thing as everything is happy so just stick to what your doing ok . any other help just ask as ive kept fish ever since i can remember or looked after my dads . i havesome nice blogs of the piond i designed and partly built as well as my mums and a friends if youd like a look .
10 Oct, 2011
You might try water hyacinth which is a free floater. Buy just 3 plants in the spring and you will have 300 in a few months. They periodically produce beautiful blue flowers, the fish use them for shelter and rest among their hanging roots, the fry hide in them and feed off of organisms on the roots and they provide needed shade. Trim back as necessary to keep 1/2 of the pond in open water. I string a thin nylon fishing line across 1/2 of my pond as an aquatic corral to keep these plants fenced in so they don,t float across the whole surface. Plus an added bonus, since they are free floaters, there are no pots at the bottom
which eliminates obstructions for net cleaning the bottom of the pond.
If you do prefer bottom basket plants; like noseypotter has said, fish love to nibble on the roots not the leaves so much. This natural pruning of the roots actually is a good thing. It promotes additional root growth making for a healthier plant.
13 Oct, 2011
your doing ok with it warriorking, i have a white one too in the pond don't cut below waterline as they may try to eat it, also not all arums like to much water so check first if it can take completely submerged , but they mostly like bogs...
9 Oct, 2011