Pest battle with Lotus — and how I won

I had a serious problem with frost damage on tender varieties left in shallow water on my Lotus earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate natural filtration improving water clarity and quality, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a stream edge or bog garden and improved my attention to planting in aquatic baskets with specialist pond compost. first leaf pads emerging at the water surface in spring was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.