Best plants for mostly shaded pond?

[TheFishGuy]

I have a mostly shaded pond, it gets a couple hours of sunlight in the morning and another hour or so in the evening, and I recently decided for all your guys es help that I would love to do a bunch of aquatic plants, but dont know which ones are more shade tolerant than others, I have been looking into water lettuce/water hyacinth or, really any other type of floating plant, which ones would be best for my pond? below is a picture attached ( this photo makes it look a lot smaller than it is but this was the most recent I had )

 

[BKHpondcritters]

In my experience, of those two floaters mentioned, the water lettuce is more shade tolerant (actually prefers a shady location) than the water hyacinth. Outside of that, this web link offers a lot of suggestions:

Best Pond Plants for Shady Areas

Plants are an essential component of any pond ecosystem, and aside from the aesthetic appeal, they offer many benefits to fish and other aquatic life. They provide a source of shelter from predators and often serve as a food source for pond inhabitants. Aquatic plants improve water quality in...

playitkoi.com

At the end of the day, most plants that like a wet environment will live & grow in a pond or bog, but flowering (on those varieties that do so) will be more limited with less sun. My personal preference in a shade garden is to go for plants that offer "color" via variegated foliage, which does a lot to brighten up a shady area. You can always tuck in an impatient or two for some annual color.

 

[j.w]

The Chameleon Plant is a medium shade lover but don't let it get onto your lawn or anywhere that you don't want it as it will take over and it is hard to get rid of as it's roots go deep in the ground. In your pond you can control it tho. It will grow in climate zones 5 - 9.

 

[AlyssaFish]

Aquatic forget-me-not grows like crazy and prefers shadier areas. I've found that frogbit does well in a shadier pond (though it's listed as a full sun plant in many places).

My sedge and cattails did just fine in my shade-heavy pond. Of course, those things could probably grow on Mars for how robust they are.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Aquatic forget-me-not grows like crazy and prefers shadier areas. I've found that frogbit does well in a shadier pond (though it's listed as a full sun plant in many places).

My sedge and cattails did just fine in my shade-heavy pond. Of course, those things could probably grow on Mars for how robust they are.

thanks so much! thanks to an amzing member here ( @Phaewryn ) I have some frogbit coming soon! and read that watercress can work too! hopefuly all that and some water lettuce coming in mabye a week I will have some great plants!

 

[Phaewryn]

thanks so much! thanks to an amzing member here ( @Phaewryn ) I have some frogbit coming soon! and read that watercress can work too! hopefuly all that and some water lettuce coming in mabye a week I will have some great plants!

I have watercress seeds (watercress isn't sold in groceries around here), I intended to try to start them but never did because they are so small and I know they will be tedious to plant. I took one look at them and thought "not worth the effort". I can send you some of those in a little baggie with the frogbit if you can't find any locally. I also have water forget-me-nots started from seed and they are doing great but too young to ship, I have more of those seeds still around too if you have the means to start seeds on your own and want to try them? They are both itty bitty teeny tiny seeds, I find them nearly impossible to deal with, maybe your nimble young non-shaking hands will have better luck! Let me know if you want to try starting things from seed and I'll send you some.

I was in your shoes a few months back, had no plants, and it's hard to find them even online unless you buy wicked early in the year, that's why I ended up with seeds. Happy to pass along the few things I have. I can probably mail you a water forget-me-not come fall (hopefully the ones I have started continue to grow).

 

[TheFishGuy]

I have watercress seeds (watercress isn't sold in groceries around here), I intended to try to start them but never did because they are so small and I know they will be tedious to plant. I took one look at them and thought "not worth the effort". I can send you some of those in a little baggie with the frogbit if you can't find any locally. I also have water forget-me-nots started from seed and they are doing great but too young to ship, I have more of those seeds still around too if you have the means to start seeds on your own and want to try them? They are both itty bitty teeny tiny seeds, I find them nearly impossible to deal with, maybe your nimble young non-shaking hands will have better luck! Let me know if you want to try starting things from seed and I'll send you some.

I was in your shoes a few months back, had no plants, and it's hard to find them even online unless you buy wicked early in the year, that's why I ended up with seeds. Happy to pass along the few things I have. I can probably mail you a water forget-me-not come fall (hopefully the ones I have started continue to grow).

thanks so much, but I actually found some live watercress ( with roots! ) at whole foods market but the water forget me not sounds great!

 

[Phaewryn]

thanks so much, but I actually found some live watercress ( with roots! ) at whole foods market but the water forget me not sounds great!

Ah, city life, Whole Foods Markets. I don't miss it, really.

Ok, I'll toss a few of the forget-me-not seeds in. They are tiny so I'll tape the small baggie of them to the bigger one the frogbit is in. Warn your parents that you're expecting a package with plants and seeds so if they open it for you they watch out for the small baggie of tiny seeds and don't lose them.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Ah, city life, Whole Foods Markets. I don't miss it, really.

Ok, I'll toss a few of the forget-me-not seeds in. They are tiny so I'll tape the small baggie of them to the bigger one the frogbit is in. Warn your parents that you're expecting a package with plants and seeds so if they open it for you they watch out for the small baggie of tiny seeds and don't lose them.

okay! thanks so much

 

[Phaewryn]

okay! thanks so much

I suppose since I won't be including them, I should give you planting instructions for the forget-me-not seeds. Just lightly press the seeds into the soil's surface using your fingertip (which if you lick it, you can use to pick the seeds up carefully since they will stick to your finger/spit). I used a coconut fiber potting mix (I don't know if this is needed or not, it's just what I had on hand so what I used and it worked great). Don't cover the seeds with soil, you just want to drop them on top, more or less. Keep the soil constantly wet. Don't let the soil dry out. I kept mine covered with a baggie (just laid over the top of the soil, not closed over the whole thing) for the first week to hold the moisture into the soil until they germinated, then I uncovered them, keeping them quite damp (but not soaking wet) at all times. Do the seed handling/planting over a sheet of white paper or a bedsheet because if these little seeds get away from you they are gone forever.

 

[TheFishGuy]

I suppose since I won't be including them, I should give you planting instructions for the forget-me-not seeds. Just lightly press the seeds into the soil's surface using your fingertip (which if you lick it, you can use to pick the seeds up carefully since they will stick to your finger/spit). I used a coconut fiber potting mix (I don't know if this is needed or not, it's just what I had on hand so what I used and it worked great). Don't cover the seeds with soil, you just want to drop them on top, more or less. Keep the soil constantly wet. Don't let the soil dry out. I kept mine covered with a baggie (just laid over the top of the soil, not closed over the whole thing) for the first week to hold the moisture into the soil until they germinated, then I uncovered them, keeping them quite damp (but not soaking wet) at all times. Do the seed handling/planting over a sheet of white paper or a bedsheet because if these little seeds get away from you they are gone forever.

thanks so mcuh for the instructions! sounds a bit like cat grass for the first stages, exept a lot more precise!

 

[Phaewryn]

thanks so mcuh for the instructions! sounds a bit like cat grass for the first stages, exept a lot more precise!

Yep, that's why I had the coconut fiber stuff, it's what I grow my cat grass in! Takes up very little space and puffs up big so that little brick goes a long way. If you're used to growing cat grass, same technique and growing medium should work.

 

[CliffandJoann]

We have a 200 gallon pond that serves as a biological pond for our main pond, and its
mostly in the shade (like your conditions) ..water hyacinth and water lettuce and forget-me-nots thrive in there.

Although, the hyacinth will not boom. If you have BIG koi, they will devour the hyacinth roots
thus killing the plant. We have to rotate our hyacinth back and forth from the bio pond to
the main pond to keep it alive...The koi don’t bother the water lettuce though.