Benefits to shady water gardens?

[Joshaeus]

Hi everyone! Are there any advantages to a water garden in the shade? I would love to keep water hawthorn, which would have less need for a heater in a container pond than water lilies do up here in my native zone 5/6 (I'm right at the border), but in full sun the hawthorn would likely go dormant in summer due to the heat (my water garden on my back patio, which has a southern exposure, regularly gets well into the 80's fahrenheit during summer). I was thinking of trying to keep a small pot of water hawthorn and perhaps a shade tolerant floating plant either in my front yard (which is a northern exposure and quite shady) or on grass with shade cloth. Thanks

 

[TheFishGuy]

some benifits may be that you would have less algae problems, and cooler water, so as long as you are able to find some nice plants for a shad spot, then it seems pretty ideal! I have a mostly shaded pond, that has watercress, hostas, creeping jenny, and some frogbit, all seem to be doing okay!

 

[GBBUDD]

Lillies don't like shade some will do ok in filtered or limited shade but they like the sun

 

[Joshaeus]

Lillies don't like shade some will do ok in filtered or limited shade but they like the sun

Yeah, I know...however, this shady water garden would use water hawthorn instead of a water lily (which would be reserved for a sunnier, heated container pond).

 

[Mmathis]

@Joshaeus What is water hawthorn? The name sounds pretty!

 

[Joshaeus]

@Joshaeus What is water hawthorn? The name sounds pretty!

This plant;

They are known in latin as Aponogeton distachyos. They are closely related to the aponogetons kept in aquariums, but - unlike most of them - is quite cold hardy. They have the bizarre habit of growing and blooming from just above freezing to the low 70's (water temperature), and going dormant above that temperature (which usually results in them going dormant in summer and growing and blooming the rest of the year as long as the lake is not frozen over). Like many aponogetons, the dormancy period is intended to protect the plant from perishing during the dry season, as it tends to be found in ephermal pools that dry up during the dry season in their native South Africa.

EDIT: I did some research into the climate of this species' native range and found that, in their native south africa, it is very uncommon for it to freeze for any length of time in winter; they thus typically only go dormant during the hot dry season. I wonder if having the plant go dormant twice - once in summer and once in winter (when it would be actively growing in its native land) - is detrimental to this species?