Water Lily

A few years ago I got a water lily in a plant swap. The lilypads were just what I needed to fill the little concrete fishless fishpond at the bottom of the terrace garden.

This post was going to be a question: Why aren't my lilypads laying on the surface? Some are, but most are standing straight up. Is this ok?

But as I took the picture above yesterday, so I could make my query/post, I saw something I'd never seen before:

A flower bud! Three years, and I finally have a flower.

Here are some pictures taken this morning:

So now this post is about showing off my first ever waterlily flower. But if you have any insight into the leaf questions, I'm still interested.