Hi dannysmommy, Yes, the flowers only last a few days. But if you do it right, you should be getting flowers quite often. You definitely need to fertilize it. If your pot is heavy, here's a way to do it more easily: For people who can't easily reach their pots to put the fertilizer tabs in by hand, you can make this simple little tool. Get a 1" diameter piece of pvc pipe. Make it the length you need. Mine is something like 4' long. then get a straight branch or a thin bamboo stake that will fit inside, and make it just a little longer than the pvc pipe. Take the pvc pipe and put it in the pot where you want the pond tab to go, insert the tab, then insert the bamboo stake into the pvc pipe and push it down into the dirt. Its a simple and easy way to fertilize those hard-to-reach water plants! Sometimes my lilies quit blooming, and it always means they need fertilizer. They usually bloom shortly after I feed them. You need to feed them every 3-4 weeks. What size pot do you have them in? Also, water lilies tend to bloom more if they are in water that's about 2-3' down. They also slow down on blooming if they are in too small of a pot and are getting too large.

Two years ago my lillies were actually removed from the pond and set aside and as I live in WA. they froze several times and for long periods of time. Come spring I noticed that the pots had green shoots and were not dead as previously though so we put then back in the pond and they are still going strong. I alway drop them to the bottom of the pond in the fall and raise them again in spring. I agree that they need feeding, I feed our at least once a month during the blooming season. Be sure to use pond fertilizers if you have fish or other living things in your pond. One other thought, lillies like to be in shallower water that is still rather than moving. So if you have changed where they were from last year this might be your problem.

I have 3 fig cuttings from last year, they are about 12 inches tall. They dropped their leaves in the fall and I wintered them in the garage. I watered them about once a month in the winter. I just looked at them today and noticed there were some new leave tips at a the very top, which have dried out and the stem is dried out also, Should I water and trim off the dried out stem. Also when is a good time to put the pots outside. I don't plan on planting them in the ground but want to keep in pots for awhile. Any suggestions or advice is appreciated.

..... better to over-winter it in a cool, low light spot, and keep the soil rather but not completely dry. I do that for hibiscus, datura, brugs, geranium, oxalis, and a number of other plants. Do a FULL repot in spring about 2-3 weeks before outdoor temps can be counted on to remain more or less reliably above 55*. A full repot includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a change of soil. Hibs have a very aggressive root system and will fill even large containers with roots that become congested enough to be conspicuously limiting. Too, fertilizer choice for hibiscus is unusual and an important consideration. They don't like much P, but they love K, so a fertilizer with a RATIO of somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:1:5 would work very well. A fertilizer's RATIO is different than it's NPK %s. E.g., 9-3-15 and 15-5-25 would both be 3:1:5 ratios. I use Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 and alternate with applications of ProTeKt 0-0-3 for the extra K and its opalene silicon, which really does make a big difference for this plant. If anything I said sounds like Greek, but you still have questions - just ask. Al