HAPPY PINK SATURDAY - The Little Pink Lotus Goes To A New Home!

I work Saturday, Sunday and Monday at a small organic nursery in the Houston Heights. I used to be the manager there until a battle with cancer derailed me. Now that that battle has been won, the owners of the nursery hired me back as soon as I was able to work. So, I am back at this same precious little nursery, not as manager, but outside with the plants I love! The new manager is wonderful and I get to do what drew me to that nursery in the first place, work with the plants, obsess about plants and share our plants with customers both new and old! I am in heaven…and talk about physical therapy! I could barely move when I went back to work, now even the intense heat of Houston cannot stop me!

One of the first things I did when I went back to work in late March was cut and plant the lotus tubers. I planted them in 7 gallon feed tubs, which at that time looked very optimistic because the tubers for the little lotus I am writing about were about the size of my little finger and only one tuber was planted in each tub! They are slow to start out with tiny floating pads only an inch across, but like the little engine that could, they end up being the most breathtaking plant – pictures do not do them justice!

Fast forward a few weeks...

I sold the last of the lotus a week ago, the tiniest little lotus we had grown, we just didn't know if it would make it. To commemorate the many weeks we took care of it until it was a fully grown lotus, I placed it on a chair on my front porch before I delivered it to one of our customers and took some pictures.

It was kind of like when you take pictures of your child, you raise them up - let them go out into the big wide world – and take pictures along the way!

So for this Pink Saturday I am sharing with you the dwarf pink lotus named ‘Momo Batan’ (nelumbo nucifera ‘Momo Batan'). This delightful little lotus only grows 2 to 4 feet in height. It has beautiful pink peony type flowers held slightly above the foliage. The lotus pads are unique in that they are waterproof - when you put water on them the water resembles liquid mercury when it runs off! These are called “bowl lotus” because they can be grown in a large bowl on a table.

Lotus are easy to grow and bloom profusely during the summer months, they do not need a pond, they are a bog plant and can be grown in almost anything that will hold water! Please consider one for your yard next spring, I'll be happy to share my obsession and help you in your journey with the amazing lotus!

Visit Beverly at How Sweet The The Sound for more delicious pinkness!