Gold Medal water lily in a growing basket, star-shaped yellow flower surrounded by marbled leaves

Pale yellow flower of the Gold Medal water lily open among the pond's floating leaves

Flower of the Gold Medal water lily seen from above, pointed cream-yellow petals and golden centre

Hardy yellow water lily Nymphaea Gold Medal

Name: Hardy yellow water lily Nymphaea Gold Medal
Brand: Latour-Marliac
SKU: LM-GOLDMEDAL-1P
Price: 22.5 EUR
Availability: InStock

22,50 €

This hardy water lily bears a 10 cm yellow flower. The pointed petals shift from golden yellow at the centre to pale yellow towards the edge, and the flowers follow one another from June to September.

Medium-sized, it sits submerged under 20 to 60 cm of water and covers about 1 m² of surface. Allow a single plant per 14 L basket.

Ref. LM-GOLDMEDAL-1P·Hardy water lily

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The summary

What you receive: one Nymphaea Gold Medal plant, a hardy yellow-flowered water lily, ready to place in its basket.
Setting up: submerge it from April to June under 20 to 60 cm of water, in full sun and still water.
Space to allow: one plant covers about 1 m² of surface, at the rate of one plant per 14 L basket.
Flowering: 10 cm flowers follow one another from June to September, above leaves 12 to 15 cm across.
Winter: the rhizome stays in the water and starts into growth again on its own in spring, as long as it does not freeze solid in the ice.
Care: one application of aquatic fertiliser in spring and the removal of faded leaves are enough for the season.

Hardy yellow water lily, 20 to 60 cm of water, about 1 m² per plant

The hardy yellow water lily Nymphaea Gold Medal is a medium-sized variety for ponds, which sits under 20 to 60 cm of water. One plant covers about 1 m² of surface, which lets you work out how many plants to allow for. Its 10 cm flowers, golden yellow at the centre, appear in succession from June to September.

Gold Medal is a medium-sized hardy water lily. Its flower measures 10 cm, its petals are pointed and their colour shifts from golden yellow at the centre to an almost creamy yellow towards the outside. The round leaves, 12 to 15 cm across, float flat on the water and form a carpet of about 1 m² per plant: it is this surface area that determines how many plants to order. This variety was bred by the American hybridiser Perry D. Slocum.

🪣 The basket, the soil, the gravel

A water lily is not planted in the bottom of a pond, but in a container that you can lift out again. Set the rhizome in a 14 L perforated basket, fill it with heavy, unamended garden soil, then cover the grow medium with a layer of rounded gravel so that it does not cloud the water. Shop-bought potting compost, on the other hand, floats, clouds your pond for weeks and feeds the algae before the plant. Once the basket is filled, you leave it alone for the rest of the season.

3 to 5 tablets pushed in during spring

An established water lily consumes a great deal at the start of the season. Push 3 to 5 tablets of Osmocote fertiliser for water lilies and lotus into the grow medium in the basket in spring, to a depth of about 2 cm. You can do this without lifting the basket out of the water, and the release is spread over the whole season instead of escaping into the open water.

🌼 What the flowering looks like

The flowers follow one another from June to September, held just above the surface. Allow 1 m² per plant, which gives you a simple rule for quantity: 2 plants for a 3 m² pond, a third of which stays as open water, and just one for a patio container 1 m across. Beyond that, the foliage overlaps and tears, and your flowering thins out. You will find the other species to plant around it in the aquatic plants collection.

Plant the water lily well away from the waterfall

Place the basket in still water, away from the waterfall, the fountain and the pump outlet. A water lily lives submerged in stagnant water or in a very weak current: constant choppy water tears its floating leaves and stops its buds from opening properly.

Flowering depends first of all on light, and 6 to 7 hours of direct sunshine a day gives the most flowers, whereas a pond shaded in the afternoon produces markedly fewer. The rest comes down to water temperature, since buds keep appearing for as long as the water stays warm, and to the space left for each plant: with a third of the surface kept as open water, the leaves do not overlap and each flower finds its place.

📐 Gradual immersion

The basket should never be placed at its final depth straight away. In spring, prop it up on bricks or concrete blocks so that the first leaves reach the surface quickly, then lower it a notch each time the leaf stalks lengthen, never by more than 10 cm at a time. A rhizome placed directly at 60 cm exhausts its reserves before its first leaf reaches the light. Once the plant is established, the crown sits under 20 to 60 cm of water, and you do not move the basket again for the rest of the season, except to place it at the deepest point of the pond before winter.

🪴 Rejuvenating the clump

In a basket, the rhizome gradually fills the whole volume of soil, and the clump should be divided every 3 to 4 years, in spring. One sign makes it urgent sooner: leaves that stand up out of the water instead of floating, because they lack room at the surface. You then lift out the basket, expose the rhizome, and replant a healthy section, with its shoots, in a basket filled with fresh soil and covered with gravel. The other sections can fill a second basket or another pond.

🐟 In a stocked pond

A carpet of floating leaves intercepts the light before it reaches the bottom, which helps with managing summer algae and gives the fish a shaded area in the height of the heat. That same shade becomes a drawback as soon as anything grows below the surface: on a production system, keep this water lily for the pond section and leave the grow beds clear. The article on lotus in aquaponics distinguishes between lotus and water lily and describes how to integrate them into a pond connected to the circuit.

Technical specifications

The plant

Botanical name: Nymphaea 'Gold Medal'Hardy water lily bred by Perry D. Slocum in 1991
Category: Medium water lilyNeither a miniature for a tub nor a large specimen for a deep pond
Flower: Yellow, 10 cmPointed petals, golden yellow at the heart and pale yellow towards the sepals
Leaf: 12 to 15 cmRound, floating flat on the water

At the pond

Immersion depth: 20 to 60 cmAbove the crown, reached gradually after planting
Surface area per plant: Around 1 m²This is the figure that decides how many plants to order
Container: 1 plant per 14 L basketPerforated basket, heavy garden soil, rounded gravel on top
Aspect: Full sun6 to 7 hours of direct sun a day

The season

Installation: From April to JuneGradual submersion, following the pace of the lengthening leaf stalks
Flowering: From June to SeptemberBuds keep coming for as long as the water stays warm
Hardiness: USDA zones 4 to 11The rhizome overwinters in the water and must not be caught in the ice
Fertilisation: 3 to 5 tabletsPushed 2 cm into the grow medium in the basket, in spring

To budget for separately

Pond basket: 1 perforated basket of 14 LWith hessian or a fine mesh to hold the soil in place
Grow medium: Heavy soil and rounded gravelUnamended garden soil, never shop-bought compost

6 further specifications are available in the detailed view.

In the box

1 Nymphaea Gold Medal plant

Depth, spread, flower and category recorded on 20/09/2026 from the French grower of the plant; light and division based on their growing advice, recorded on 11/10/2026.

Manufacturer and product safety

Manufacturer: SARL Latour-Marliac (SIREN 499473601)
Postal address: 68 route de Péchavis, 47110 Le Temple-sur-Lot, France
Contact: contact@latour-marliac.com ; +33 5 53 01 08 05
Website: shop.latour-marliac.com

Information provided under Regulation (EU) 2023/988 on general product safety.

Estimate your
delivery time

A water lily plant is sent in a separate parcel, protected against drying out. The exact amount is calculated at checkout. Pot it and put it in water as soon as it arrives, without leaving it waiting in the open air. As a plant or living organism, this product is excluded from the right of withdrawal (article L221-28, 4° of the French Consumer Code), because it deteriorates quickly.

Frequently asked questions

8 questions

6 key questions, 8 in the detailed view

Should you take the water lily out of the water for winter?

No, the basket stays submerged all year round. The rhizome of a hardy water lily spends the winter under water and starts growing again on its own in spring. What you need to avoid is it being caught in the ice: place the basket at the deepest point of the pond before the first frosts, and leave it there until March.

In an above-ground patio tub, the volume of water freezes much faster than in a dug pond. In that case, mulch the outside of the tub or bring it in against a sheltered wall.

How many plants for a 6 m² pond?

Exactly how deep should the water be above the basket?

Can it be planted directly into the sludge on the bottom?

Why not use potting compost?

How much fertiliser, and when?

Wait for spring and the first floating leaves.
Push 3 to 5 tablets of aquatic fertiliser into the grow medium in the basket.
Press them in to a depth of about 2 cm, using your finger.
Do not repeat until the following season.

Nothing is poured into the water: a fertiliser dissolved in open water feeds the algae, not the water lily. Aquatic plant tablets are designed for this kind of placement.

Can it be grown in a patio tub?

What place does it have in an aquaponics system?

Its place is the pond section, not the grow beds. A water lily covers the surface and takes up the light; this is useful above a water reservoir, where the shade limits warming and algae growth, and it is a nuisance above anything that needs to grow. In a pond connected to the circuit, do not place fertiliser tablets in its basket, because a mineral input released into the fish water skews your readings. For the crops in the system, see our article on plants to grow in aquaponics.

Growing calendar

Guidelines for mainland France, to be shifted by about two weeks depending on your region. It is the water temperature, more than the date, that governs the spring restart.

Stage
Adding to basket3 months	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket in April	Adding to basket in May	Adding to basket in June	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no	Adding to basket: no
Gradual descent3 months	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent in May	Gradual descent in June	Gradual descent in July	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no	Gradual descent: no
Flowering4 months	Flowering: no	Flowering: no	Flowering: no	Flowering: no	Flowering: no	Flowering in June	Flowering in July	Flowering in August	Flowering in September	Flowering: no	Flowering: no	Flowering: no
Fertilisation2 months	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation in March	Fertilisation in April	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no	Fertilisation: no
Resting on the bottom4 months	Resting on the bottom in January	Resting on the bottom in February	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom: no	Resting on the bottom in November	Resting on the bottom in December

KeyAdding to basketGradual descentFloweringFertilisationResting on the bottom

This month October

Growing guidance

Installation: April to JuneGradual submersion, never straight to the final depth
Immersion depth: 20 to 60 cmAbove the crown, once the plant is established
Container: 14 L perforated basketJust one plant per basket
Grow medium: Heavy garden soilUnamended, covered with rounded gravel
Surface area per plant: Approximately 1 m²Leave at least a third of the pond as open water
Aspect: Full sunAt least six hours of direct sun a day
Water movement: Still waterOpposite the waterfall and the pump outlet
Flowering: June to SeptemberFlowers of 10 cm, leaves of 12 to 15 cm
Fertilisation: 3 to 5 pelletsIn spring, pushed 2 cm into the grow medium
Hardiness: Zones USDA 4 to 11Rhizome overwintering under water, clear of the ice

What you need to know

Prop the basket up high in the first year, on bricks or concrete blocks, and lower it over the following weeks. A rhizome set straight away at 60 cm exhausts its reserves before the first leaf reaches the light.
Line the basket with hessian or a planting fabric before adding the soil. Without it, the grow medium escapes through the openings at the first immersion and clouds the pond for days.
Always cover the soil with a layer of rounded gravel. It stops the sludge from rising and, in a pond with fish, it discourages burrowing fish that scratch at the grow medium.
Leave at least a third of the surface as open water. A fully covered pond exchanges poorly with the air, and you can no longer see anything of what lives beneath.
Cut yellowed leaves off flush with the basket rather than leaving them to decompose in place. Every leaf left in the water ends up as organic matter that the filter will have to process.
Do not put the basket under a waterfall or facing a pump outlet. The leaves tear in the ripples and the buds stay closed.

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Hardy yellow water lily Nymphaea Gold Medal

The summary