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Aquatic Plants
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| The hardest part of building your pond is now over. The
next step is to naturalize your new water garden into your landscape by adding color and
movement with aquatic plants and fish. Water lilies provide beautiful blooms for most of
the summer season while providing shade for your fish. Marginals soften the water’s
edge, blending the pond in with a new or existing landscape. Submerged plants provide
oxygen and remove excess nutrients from the water to help prevent algae.
The gentle splish-splash of swimming fish will bring hours of enjoyment and
help balance your pond by cleaning and adding fertilizer. They add sparkle and movement to
a water pond like nothing else.
Plants and fish are the crowning touches of your water garden.
The sounds, colors, motions and textures will please all the senses. |
Choosing Your Plants
- The healthiest water gardens with the cleanest water contain a mix of floaters,
submerged (oxygenating) plants, marginal and bog plants and deep water plants.
Floaters
- Floaters, just like their name, float in the water, their leaves and
blossoms
on the surface, their roots dangling loose beneath. This group includes water lettuce,
water hyacinth and duckweed. These provide shade and food for fish. In fact, foliage of
floaters and other deep water plants should cover about half the pond surface to shade the
water. But, if they cover more than 2/3 of the pond, they trap carbon dioxide and other
gases fish need to survive.
- Floaters: Water Hyacinth, Duckweed & Water Lettuce
Submerged, Oxygenating Plants
- These plants slow algae growth, replace lost oxygen and provide shelter and a good
breeding ground for the fish. They grow in pots at the bottom of the pond, but their
foliage grows primarily underwater.
- Many oxygenators are very aggressive and can easily take over a pond if not controlled.
These plants can be thinned and the cuttings shared with friends. To thin them, just take
a garden rake forcefully through the underwater vegetation.
- Submerged Plants: Water Milfol, Hornwort & Parrot’s Feather
Marginal Plants
- The function of a marginal is to add color and height and help the water garden blend
visually into the rest of the landscape. They are, for the most part, simply aesthetic.
Though, roots which escape the pot may help remove unwanted nutrients from the water.
- Marginals thrive in shallow water (2-3 inches) and moist soil found at the edge of a
pond. They sit on the ledge of your water pond while gravel on top of the soil keeps it in
place. Tuck marginal plants into pots to prevent their aggressive nature from overtaking
your pond. These pots also allow you to mix and match plants that require different
depths.
- Tall marginal aquatics should be reduced in height to 9-10" to prevent them from
being blown over before the roots have obtained hold.. Most marginal requires slight
thinning each year, especially some of the more vigorous varieties. Most spread readily
and small pieces can easily be removed and replanted.
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| Name |
Picture |
Appearance |
Height |
| Arrowhead |
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Narrow, arrowhead-shaped leaves. White flowers. |
18-24" |
| Canna varieties |
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Large red or green leaves. Varying bloom color. |
32-60" |
| Iris varieties |
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Varying bloom color. |
36-60" |
| Ragwort |
no picture available |
Clumped foliage topped by bright yellow flowers. |
60-72" |
| Pickerelweed |
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Bold, glossy leaves. Flowers appear when most marginals
ahve stopped blooming. |
24-48" |
| Dwarf Horsetail |
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Mounds of evergreen on upright stems |
6-10" |
| Zebra Rush |
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Long tubular leaves with green & white horizontal
stripes. |
34-48" |
Water Lilies & Lotus
- A water garden's beauty can be highlighted with hardy or tropical
water lilies.
- Hardy water lilies are perennials bearing flowers in shades of red, pink and yellow
(some changing color). Their flowers open in early morning and close by mid to late
afternoon.
- Tropical water lilies are tuberous, cold-sensitive perennials, bearing flowers in shades
of white, rose, yellow, blue and purple. The flowers, borne above the water surface,
open during the day or night and emit a delightful fragrance.
- Lotus species are noted for their exotic leaves and colorful, fragrant flowers.
Growing from early spring until late summer, lotus develop from tubers or rhizomes and are
aggressive growers.
- Plant hardy water lilies and lotus early in spring, but wait until water temperature is
at least 70°F before adding tropical water lilies.
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