Question
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Followup To
Question -
hi there,
i live in zone 5, in n/w illinois.  i have a whisky barrel pond, with a water lilly, and cat tails in it, and a fountain (about 1' deep) with a water iris.  winter is approaching, and this is the first year ive had water plants, and not sure how to winterize them.  
i hope you can help me.
thanx for your time,
lisa pruitt
Answer -
Since your pond is small, you'll have to bring the plants inside for winter.  I just pulled my tropicals in yesterday here in Zone 6/7.  You can either setup an indoor pond (or just a pot kept wet for the cattails or iris) and continue to keep them growing over winter or you can store them as tubers.  This would involve cutting off the green parts of the plants and storing them in damp spaghnum moss.  The water lily can also be stored in damp sand.  If overwintered as tubers, store in a dark, cool place in open bags (they need ventilation).  Check out these pages on my site:

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/indoor.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plant3.htm
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/winter.htm

Let me know if you have more specific questions.

Robyn

i really appreciate your time and knowledge on this question.
what about the roots.  they are quite prominent.  do i trim them back, or keep intact?  

Answer
If you're going to leave them in pots or repot and keep them active during the winter, keep the roots intact.  If you're going to store the tubers in damp sphagnum, etc., then cut off basically all the roots and all the leaves within about an inch of the root ball.  If you've every overwintered amaryllis, it's kind of similiar except the plants must be kept slightly (not overly) damp the entire winter.