Lotus plant decline is natural process

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Lotus plant decline is natural process

County News

Thursday, 23 December 2010 08:00

By Stacia Hetrick
Special to the News-Gazette
The big showy lily pads on local lakes are browning out and appear to be dying. It looks bad — like someone got overzealous with the herbicide.
But it’s OK. Sometimes that’s just the nature of things.
American lotus looks like an over-sized lily pad. When the days get shorter and the temperature dips, the American Lotus does what it does every year. It dies back.
American lotus (Nelumbo lutea) is perennial, meaning it comes back year after year even though the leaves die off in the winter. You can recognize this native plant by its showy, yellow flowers and round leaves that can be as big as three-feet across. The American lotus also has a uniquely large seed pod that is prized among florists.
But as we bid them farewell for the winter, we can look forward to their return in the spring. They’ll be back – sometimes as a patch here and a patch there, and sometimes they come up all over the place, just like so many other perennial plants that go through the same natural process of dying off and growing back each year.
If you have any questions about plants, either in your yard or on our lakes, contact the Osceola County Extension Office at 321-697-3000.
Stacia Hetrick is a faculty advisor with UF/IFAS Osceola County Extension; she can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or at 321-697-3000.