The Lotus Bloom

 I would like to share my lotus bloom  in this blog. So far my lotus plant has only bloomed once, with three beautiful blooms continuously in the month.  The blooms  were absolutely gorgeous, see for yourself.   The following is the sequence of the lotus bloom (please ignore the dates on the pictures, the camera was incorrectly set).

 

 Let us start off with the bud.

Now only the pod is left ! .  Does this remind you of  the shower head? The lotus seeds are edible, the seeds are crunchy, but I prefer to save the seeds.

 

The flower and the pod...................! 

The lotus flower always faces the sun. For the lotus to bloom it needs fertilizers (special for waterlilies and lotus) and plenty of sunshine.  The lotus will start to close in the evening, and re-opens the next morning when the sun comes out. The bloom will continue to close and open for the next 4 - 5 days. Then the petals will start to drop, eventually leaving only the pod. 

I planted the lotus from seeds.  It took almost a year and more before it bloomed for me. Initially I had problems growing the lotus. The soil medium was not right, and the plant did not seemed to grow well.   So I changed to the medium to a more loamy soil.  The pot I used was also too small  so I bought a bigger pot. It looks like perhaps it is becoming overcrowded again and time for me to replant the  lotus.  This time round I will use the tuber instead of the seeds. They grow faster from the tuber.