Detective Erika Purple Water Lily Plant Description &
Special conditions when considering planting in spring weather: When to plant this waterlily.

Detective Erika is a result of a cross between a hardy water lily and a tropical purple waterlily. It is itself WINTER HARDY .... however one of the characteristics of this and other crosses where one parent plant was a Tropical waterlily is that they do not come out of dormancy until the water is very warm in the spring, in the low to mid 70s at root level.

So for this reason we cannot ship the Detective Erika plant as early to you as other winter hardy crosses. Please do not request we send it early for ANY reason as we will not.

The first few years dealing with "Hardy X Tropical" crosses we dealt with far too many issues with the plants reverting to dormancy and customers complaining they wanted replacement plants - therefore it is company protocol to wait until temperatures are consistently in the 80s in the afternoon and 50s at night before we are going to ship the ENTIRE order if you include Detective Erika.

If you want other plants earlier - place 2 orders and separate Erika by itself on its own independent order.

If you can be calm and patient waiting for the entire order place just one order. This is protocol - we will NOT alter this for any special request as we cannot just keep replacing plants because they are put into water that is too cold and the revert to a dormant state. 

These are shipped as your water temperatures must be 70 or better to keep this lily from reverting to dormancy so orders further north in colder states will ship in following weeks when that temperature threshold is met. 

Detective Erika is the one purple hardy water lily you really should own!

Detective Erika Waterlily is a mass bloomer!

Detective Erika is a large waterlily so a large, wide pot is needed. Plant in loam soil and place your Detective Erika Waterlily in shallow water, 5 to 15 inches beneath the surface of the water, in full sun. 

The orders with Detective Erika begin shipping MAY 4th 2020, as temperatures must be warm enough in your area to plant. Not before. We want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to purchase one this year and should have enough stock to get us into summer.

Note, ISG lilies need to be planted in warm water even though they will overwinter in cold water. Planting them as a grown plant too early in cold water will set them into immediate dormancy so please follow our advised ship date. We advise the water be 70 degrees or so when planting to avoid plants going into dormancy on arrival. 

The Detective Erika Water lily is an amazing purple, winter hardy waterlily from award winning hybridizer, Zijun Li.

This water lily plant is FAR superior to the earlier purple hardy water lilies on the market. Detective Erika Hardy Waterlily is an amazing bloomer--by that I mean it "blooms like crazy"! 

Detective Erika looks similar to a tropical purple lily, and does not suffer from hooded petals or a leggy growing pattern as we have seen in other hardy purple varieties. Detective Erika's flower petals are drenched in vivid-purple color with golden-yellow centers. Flower petals contrast the dark-green leaves beautifully! Detective Erika Purple Waterlily is one of the loveliest purples we've seen!

This is a fantastic waterlily that we wholeheartedly endorse as THE purple hardy lily you want to buy!

Detective Erika Waterlily Planting Instructions

Please Note: This is a very winter hardy waterlily, but because it's parentage is from both a tropical water lily and a hardy water lily, you NEVER want to place our grown out plants in chilly water as they will usually abort the leaves and go into dormancy. We need to add these when water temperatures are near 70 degrees at the level your pots are placed, so that is a few weeks after regular hardy waterlilies get planted in the pond, closer to when you would plant a tropical. These will also come up about 3 to 5 weeks after normal hardy waterlilies, as they do not want to grow when the water is cool. We suggest these be moved to shallow areas of the pond which are a few degrees warmer during growing season***


Plant in a  16 wide x 7 deep container or larger, using heavy loam soil or aquatic planting media with 5 or more hours of sunlight daily. 

We suggest planting winter hardy waterlilies once the water is 62 - 65 degrees or better in the spring. Plant no later in the year than 4 - 5 weeks before the first frost. 

Detective Erika Waterlily Fertilizing Instructions

Fertilize monthly with Waterlily World Fertilizer Tabs + Humates throughout the growing/blooming season or use a slow release fertilizer like Landon Fertilizer for 80 - 90 days of slow release fertilizer!