The water lily is a tuber and you are going to plant it on it's side.. lengthwise in the pot.. where you have growth on the lily is your crown. This should be potted in the center of your pot.. the other end should be tucked against the side of the pot, the lily likes to planted in this way.. and encourages growth. Clay soil will work, but I would get smaller stone.. even kitty litter will work if it is the non-clumping type and odor free... (kitty litter is baked clay and works fine in aquatic pots... slowly lower the pot to the growing area.

Because the lily is a flowering plant, fertilize with an aquatic plant food pellet, once a week.. once the temperature is around 80.. fertilize every week. Pellets work best in the pond, because they are pushed down into the soil and will not float around in the pond. In the fall, cut back the plant and sink the pot to the bottom of the pond until next spring. Next spring when things start to come back to life, lift your lily out and set it on a pond shelf where the water is warmer, yet the pot is still submerged, this will encourage the plant to send out new growth.. as the water continues to warm lower your lily to the bottom once again. Ideally the lily crown should be 20-24 inches below the water surface. Replant every two to three years.

Cat tails can be invasive... keep in a pot to keep them from overtaking the pond. They also work well in a bog garden area.

I gleaned a lot of good info from this post and what gardengal had to say. The one thing I have found that you need to be warned about is if there are fish in your pond watch out. Especially koi. They will dig up your tubers. I plan to replant my water lilies without soil this time, only rock. I am told that keeps the fish critters from digging them out. Time will tell.
Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: My pond the way it was before the freeze.

I would put pea gravel over that clay. The angle looks good and the roots will grow into the pot. You could put a small rock on top of the tuber between the sprouting pads until it roots and holds itself in better. They do like to float out of their pots until taking hold.

If you use a wider, and much larger diameter pot to start with you won't have to repot as soon. Waterlilies like to spread sideways more than deep.

You would be better off using a pot that is wide and shallow such as a dish pan, oil drain pans, etc. The tubers grow across rather than down so the black nursery pots aren't the best for them.

I use dishpans from the dollar store as pots. I put about 1" of soil mix in the bottom of the pot. then put in one tablespoon each of osmocote, blood meal and bone meal. Add the rest of the soil. Dig a small trench the length of the tuber and set the tuber down in the trench. Cover with soil and place a small rock on top to hold it in place. Top the soil with river rock. If you pot it like this, you won't need to fertilize it at all for a year.

Thanks for the suggestions. How long will they be okay in the mesh baggies that they came in until I can get the rest of the stuff, a few more days or until they start really growing? When I put them in a couple days ago I barely had green coming up and now the other one is bigger then this one, probably about 2 1/2 inches tall already.

These are the hardy ones, do they go as deep as the tropical lilies?

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My first blooms this year. Glenda

Thanks Glenda, beautiful. I'm not actually expecting blooms this year but it would be nice.

I did get both of them done today in cat liter pans with the red clay soil, fertilizer and pea stones. Both barely fit perfectly where I wanted them. I tossed the spitter the kids loved and made a little waterfall just so I could have these.