Crinums planted in water?

[Pixydish]

I have been reading Christopher Lloyd's book called Color for Adventurous Gardeners and in his discussion of pink flowers he states that he has had great results planting his crinum lilies  (Crinum x powellii) in the marginal area of his horse pond. Has anyone ever heard of this or tried it? He does have an absolutely gorgeous photo on page 149 of a pink lily with water behind it.  It gives me considerable pause because in my climate, with our heavy clay soil, more people lose lilies to rotting over the winter than to anything else.
I would love to be able to grow some of these in the marginal area of my pond, but I'm wanting to know if anyone else out there has tried it?

[no ideas man]

Hi pixydish
                I have never grown Crinums but I have bulbs growing all over the place, my garden is heavy clay so I plant the bulbs in suitable containers of good quality compost with added bonemeal.Dig a hole slightly bigger than the pot/container put a handful of grit /sand in the bottom of the planting hole to help with drainage, place the pot container in position and refill the hole so the container is just below the soil level This method works very well with the bonus of being able to remove the said plant after flowering to be placed in a shady spot or a cold greenhouse this method works very well (for me) and I have not lost any bulbs so far, this is ths second year flowering and will be devided when the plants die down hope this method may be of some use to you.

Happy Gardening

Harry  mar234

[Pixydish]

Thanks for the reply, no ideas man. Personally, I haven't lost any bulbs due to drainage because I am continually amending the soil each spring, but your method is certainly a good one. I think your method would also protect bulbs from our grey squirrels who love to dig up tulips, especially.
What is really interesting to me about Lloyd's book is that he is actuallly growing the lilies under water. He doesn't say whether or not he lifts them at the end of the seaon. I guess I could buy some cheap bulbs and give it a go.