Lily Pad

The Lily Pad is an aquatic plant that lets the player plant non-aquatic plants in the pool. It is based on the plant family Nymphaeaceae, a flowering aquatic plant also known as the water lily.

Suburban Almanac Entry
Lily Pad

Lily Pads let you plant non-aquatic plants on top of them.

Special: non-aquatic plants can be planted on top of it

Must be planted in water

Lily Pad never complains. Lily Pad never wants to know what's going on. Put a plant on top of Lily Pad, he won't say a thing. Does he have startling opinions or shocking secrets? Nobody knows. Lily Pad keeps it all inside.

Cost: 25

Recharge: fast

Usage
The Lily Pad is essential for any backyard level, especially before obtaining plants that can attack zombies in multiple rows. Without it, the player cannot plant non-aquatic plants on his/her pool lanes, and this will make the level difficult. Place Lily Pads on any water space you wish to plant a regular plant. Note that Potato Mines, Flower Pots, Spikeweed, and Spikerock can't be planted on top of a Lily Pad, and nor can other aquatic plants, like the Tangle Kelp and Sea-shroom. Cattails are the only aquatic plant that can be planted on top of it, because the Cattail is the upgrade of it. It can't be planted in land spaces.

Strategies
Wait until you have your sun production started before placing Lily Pads, as aquatic zombies always appear later than most zombies. When you begin placing them, try to plan ahead for what you'll need. Don't put empty Lily Pads at the far right unless you absolutely need the extra time that zombies will take chomping on them. They should be used to slow Zombies down, and as cheap and fast as they are, this might just save you in an emergency. Remember that Dolphin Rider Zombies will jump off their dolphins after leaping over a single Lily Pad, so use this to slow them down, but plant the Lily Pad in the second column as the zombie jumps over the first square of the pool.

Practically anything can be planted on Lily Pads, so if you actually run out of good strategies in a pool level, just use the normal strategies you would use in the front yard, except with Lily Pads below it. For example, you can still plant Torchwoods on Lily Pads. Simply remember the plants that cannot be planted on Lily Pads. If you have at least $10,000, you should buy the Cattail, as this is an aquatic plant that upgrades the Lily Pad. When there are Snorkel Zombies, putting a Wall-nut or Tall-nuts on a Lily Pad should stop them.

Trivia

 * Lily Pads take a slightly longer time to be completely eaten by the zombies, as does the Flower Pot (normal and Ducky Tube Zombies eat this and the Flower Pot in seven bites instead of six).
 * In Zen Garden, Lily Pad won't ask for water, because it's an Aquatic Plant, which does not need watering.
 * If you look closely, you will see the Lily Pad has yellow eyes and black pupils.
 * It is one of the four plants with yellow eyes, the other three being the Spikerock, the Torchwood, and the Grave Buster.
 * If you plant on a Lily Pad, a splashing sound can be heard along with a small visible splash.
 * This sound is also heard when planting the Lily Pad itself.
 * The Lily Pad is the only plant that does not move on its own, although it floats up and down due to the rippling of the water.
 * When you try to plant a Lily Pad on the ground, the game says "Lily Pads can only be planted on water".
 * The Lily Pad is one of the twelve plants that appear in the seed selection screen after you get the Grave Buster on the online version, the others being the Ice-shroom, Doom-shroom, Potato Mine, Threepeater, Tangle Kelp, Jalapeno, Spikeweed, Torchwood, Tall-nut, Cactus, and Blover.
 * The Lily Pad does not sink if a heavy plant is planted on it.
 * The Lily Pad is one of the two only plants that allow plants to be planted on them, the other being the Flower Pot.
 * However, the Pumpkin can share its space with a plant, as can the Coffee Bean, but neither have plants on top of them.
 * The Lily Pad's upgrade is really a unique plant rather than a simple Lily Pad upgrade, as no plant can be planted on a Cattail. However, unlike other aquatic plants, a Pumpkin can be placed around it.
 * In the DS version, the Lily Pad's animation is static and does not float up and down.
 * The Lily Pad, Spikeweed, Plantern, Lobbed-shot plants, Tangle Kelp, Magnet-shroom, and Gold Magnet are the only plants that don't have a mouth.
 * Flower Pots cannot be planted on Lily Pads.
 * If any Imitater aquatic plants are planted on the water, the "splash" sound and effect will sound and appear twice. First, when the Imitater is planted; second, when the Imitater is turning onto another plant.
 * It is unknown why Snorkel Zombies can't just swim under Lily Pads.
 * If a Doom-shroom explodes on a Lily Pad, the Lily Pad will be destroyed in the explosion, leaving floating debris in the water that prevent other plants from being placed there.
 * In the iPad version, if you put a fully grown Lily Pad in your regular Zen Garden, it will look as if it is floating above its pot.