Lotus Zhong Guo Hong Beijing

In a pond connected to a filter, the position of the container is decided before the plumbing goes in. A 150 litre container takes up a wide area of the bottom, often where the suction strainer and the water return are placed, and the leaves that fall at the end of the season are drawn towards the strainer if the container is too close to it. You therefore choose its position while the pond is still empty, away from these two points, and you cover the soil with a layer of gravel so that the fish do not dig it up.

From April to August, the lotus absorbs a large share of the nitrates and phosphates in the water, which relieves the filter without replacing it. Its foliage does impose a limit, however: beyond 30% of the surface covered, it reduces oxygen exchange overnight, and you should then cut the surplus leaves back to water level. Koi carp can live alongside it if the rhizome is protected in a mesh basket, whereas sturgeon and very large carp will turn over the grow medium. The article on growing lotus in aquaponics goes into these balances in detail.

This cultivar belongs to a family of Chinese red lotuses named after cities, and its name reads in two parts: Zhong Guo Hong means "red of China", and Beijing is the city that gives this member of the series its name. Another member, Zhong Guo Hong Shanghai, shares the same colour. Every rhizome you receive comes from the division of an existing plant, and this vegetative propagation faithfully reproduces the height of the foliage and the size of the flower, which a seedling does not guarantee. Other hardy cultivars complete the range of aquatic plants for ponds.

The rhizome is lifted from the soil during its rest period, before the leaves emerge, and this rest period governs the whole calendar. Orders are dispatched between 1 April and 15 June, and the rhizome you receive travels wrapped in damp paper, slipped into a bag that keeps it fresh. After that date, the plant has started into growth and tolerates being lifted badly, so an order placed in autumn is recorded as a pre-order and ships the following spring, with the rhizome from that year's division.

This lotus tolerates frost just as well as a hardy water lily. Its foliage dies back in autumn, and the rhizome spends the winter dormant at the bottom of the pond, provided the water does not freeze right down to it: about 60 cm of water above the rhizome keeps it safe where it is. In a shallower pond, you lift the rhizome before the frosts and keep it submerged in a bucket of water, in a frost-free cellar, at between 4 and 10 °C.

In a container under 80 cm in diameter, division is due every year in March. The tub is emptied by laying it on its side, and the rhizomes, which have run along the wall during the season, are immediately visible. Cut the chain of tubers 3 to 4 cm after a node, so as to keep 2 to 3 tubers at the end of the piece, and this piece then goes back into fresh soil. A broken node or a damaged tip is enough to make the piece rot, so handle it gently.