How do I plant plants in the pond?

[Jkm]

This is my first summer with the pond, and most of my planting has been unsuccessful. I’m in north Idaho, zone 5, and I’d really like to populate the pond with perennials. But I don’t know how to plant them. The attached pics show parts of the perimeter of the pond. I wanted to do a lot of bare root planting in the rocks, but most of those plants eventually died.

So how, exactly, do I plant anything in that rock perimeter around the pond? Or anywhere else in the pond? I see so many beautiful ponds and water gardens here that there must be procedures and techniques of which I am unaware.

Can anyone tell me how they do it? I need a lot more plants...

 

[poconojoe]

There are a lot of methods.
I see you have rocks sitting in shallow water. You can arrange some of those rocks to create a pocket where you can put clay kitty litter as a planting medium. You use it instead of soil, but you have to make sure it's pure clay, bentonite or fullers earth. No purfumes, just pure clay. It's usually the cheap plain kitty litter. A few plants I have planted in my pond are Aquatic Mint, Lizards Tail, and a gorgeous Marsh Marigold. They survive my Pennsylvania winters too.

You can buy or make mesh planting bags that can contain the kitty litter and still allow the water to circulate through to the roots. Its important to not confine the plants to a solid pot.

You can grow plants in the surrounding soil and spread them into the water. Creeping Jenny is good for that. Also Parrot's Feather. My Creeping Jenny comes back every year as long as it's planted in the soil.

I stick Parrot's Feather in between my surrounding rocks in a way where the roots are in the water.

Then there are the floating plants that don't need any soil. Water Hyacinths, Water Lettuce, Water Spangle, Fairy Moss. These are tropical and don't survive my winters.

There are so many more plants and hopefully others here can list them for you.

 

[cas]

I just stuffed my aquatic mint with the little bit of soil that came with it between the rocks . This is how it looks after 2 years. It has spread between the rocks and is coming up in other places.

For my forget-me-nots, I did what poconojoe mentioned - I made a little pocket out of rocks to put some kitty litter in and then stuffed a stem of forget-me-nots with some roots. It is on the right in the picture below. The blue flag iris are planted in an open weave basket and placed on a shelf in the pond. This picture is from the spring so you can see the pocket that the forget-me-nots are growing in.

This is the forget-me-nots now.

 

[Jkm]

There are a lot of methods.
I see you have rocks sitting in shallow water. You can arrange some of those rocks to create a pocket where you can put clay kitty litter as a planting medium. You use it instead of soil, but you have to make sure it's pure clay, bentonite or fullers earth. No purfumes, just pure clay. It's usually the cheap plain kitty litter. A few plants I have planted in my pond are Aquatic Mint, Lizards Tail, and a gorgeous Marsh Marigold. They survive my Pennsylvania winters too.

You can buy or make mesh planting bags that can contain the kitty litter and still allow the water to circulate through to the roots. Its important to not confine the plants to a solid pot.

You can grow plants in the surrounding soil and spread them into the water. Creeping Jenny is good for that. Also Parrot's Feather. My Creeping Jenny comes back every year as long as it's planted in the soil.

I stick Parrot's Feather in between my surrounding rocks in a way where the roots are in the water.

Then there are the floating plants that don't need any soil. Water Hyacinths, Water Lettuce, Water Spangle, Fairy Moss. These are tropical and don't survive my winters.

There are so many more plants and hopefully others here can list them for you.

So the parrots feather doesn’t have to float in the pond? I can plant it in the dirt outside the pond and let it grow into the pond?

 

[Jkm]

I just stuffed my aquatic mint with the little bit of soil that came with it between the rocks . This is how it looks after 2 years. It has spread between the rocks and is coming up in other places.

View attachment 123790

For my forget-me-nots, I did what poconojoe mentioned - I made a little pocket out of rocks to put some kitty litter in and then stuffed a stem of forget-me-nots with some roots. It is on the right in the picture below. The blue flag iris are planted in an open weave basket and placed on a shelf in the pond. This picture is from the spring so you can see the pocket that the forget-me-nots are growing in.

View attachment 123791

This is the forget-me-nots now.

View attachment 123792

What are the tall rushy grassy things in the water and how are they planted?

 

[j.w]

@Jkm Parrots Feather can be planted in a pot in your pond, that's how I have most of mine or you can tuck it in between your rocks so it's roots are in the water or just let it float. It need water for the roots or very constant wet soil.

 

[Lisak1]

The biggest tip for success is to make sure of the plant's preferred planting depth. Some marginals want to be in damp soil (cardinal flower for example) while others can be up to 10 or 12 inches deep (like lizard tail). Some start in the dirt on the edge of the pond and float on the water (like bog bean).

You have LOTS of great places in your pond for irises, reeds, and sedges between the rocks in just a few inches of water. Start them between the rocks and they will grow into the pond, creating their own root ball. Use rocks and gravel to prop up young plants until they start to take root. Once they establish themselves you'll forget how you even started them!

 

[cas]

What are the tall rushy grassy things in the water and how are they planted?

Those are blue flag iris. They are planted in kitty litter in an open weave basket like below

 

[420benz]

I have a problem with plant depth. I do know that lilly's should be about 24" deep.

 

[poconojoe]

If your pond is too deep for lillies, you can use something like a milk crate to get the right height. Maybe tie the lily pot to the milk crate so it doesn't fall off.