Looking for ideas for pond plants

[Denise T]

We have converted our free form in ground pool to a pond. Other than the steps there are no ledges on which to place plants. I have created a way to hang planters below the surface for some coverage. Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce are illegal in my state. We are way below the desired 70/30 coverage but I am out of ideas.

Any suggestions?

 

[addy1]

You can make some floating islands. Get foam board from lowes, HD etc, they have green stuff, cut holes in it, stick plants in the holes. If you have herons, be aware they may use it as a landing fishing spot. But it works great! The plants roots hang down, the plants grow great. Creeping jenny will cover the board beautifully. The other plants can be tall, short etc.

 

[cas]

@callingcolleen1 planted some yellow flag iris in her pond that has gotten so big that she says it actually is floating. It gets very tall and could provide some shade. Here is a picture of it in her pond.

 

[Denise T]

You can make some floating islands. Get foam board from lowes, HD etc, they have green stuff, cut holes in it, stick plants in the holes. If you have herons, be aware they may use it as a landing fishing spot. But it works great! The plants roots hang down, the plants grow great. Creeping jenny will cover the board beautifully. The other plants can be tall, short etc.

Great idea! I am already using two boogie boards with holes drilled in for flowers. Why didn't I think of something that would spread?

 

[Denise T]

@callingcolleen1 planted some yellow flag iris in her pond that has gotten so big that she says it actually is floating. It gets very tall and could provide some shade. Here is a picture of it in her pond.

View attachment 130157

Do you think Irises would work on a floating island?

 

[Denise T]

Great idea! I am already using two boogie boards with holes drilled in for flowers. Why didn't I think of something that would spread?

Also, any idea where to buy creeping Jenny?

 

[cas]

Do you think Irises would work on a floating island?

In my experience the yellow flag iris get so tall that they would fall over if not anchored well. I would think forget-me-nots would work well in an island. They fall into the water and then grow roots and keep spreading. In the picture below they are on the right of the waterfall.

 

[Denise T]

In my experience the yellow flag iris get so tall that they would fall over if not anchored well. I would think forget-me-nots would work well in an island. They fall into the water and then grow roots and keep spreading. In the picture below they are on the right of the waterfall.

View attachment 130161

Oh I like those! I need to make a trip to my local garden center!

 

[Denise T]

You can make some floating islands. Get foam board from lowes, HD etc, they have green stuff, cut holes in it, stick plants in the holes. If you have herons, be aware they may use it as a landing fishing spot. But it works great! The plants roots hang down, the plants grow great. Creeping jenny will cover the board beautifully. The other plants can be tall, short etc.

Thank you so much for this suggestion. I bought a couple of creeping Jenny this afternoon.

 

[Lisak1]

You got some great suggestions! You could also consider adding some underwater structures that could hold potted plants - like milk crates or I've even seen people use those inexpensive plastic shelving units you can buy that just snap together. Anything that you could stand a pot on to get it at the right level would work. How deep is the pool? Maybe we can think of some other ideas!

Also - I don't see any waterlilies. Do you have any in your pond?

 

[Denise T]

It is 4 ft at the shallow end and 6 ft at the deep end. We have 5 water lilies- two at each end and one by accident in the middle that we grew from tubers. They are all small but all have leaves at this point.

 

[Phaewryn]

Also, any idea where to buy creeping Jenny?

My local perennial nursery had creeping jenny. They don't sell water plants, but had a few that do well as marginals (they also had marsh marigold and cardinal plant). I'd call perennial nurseries in your area and ask them if they carry specific plants (sometimes they don't know if their plants will do well in ponds since it's not their specialty so ask if they carry specific species, not "pond plants" in general).

Pondmegastore.com has many floating plant options that appear to be legal in Florida. That store gives you the option to choose your state when you first visit it and hiades illegal plants, but it's always good to double check. https://www.flrules.org/gateway/RuleNo.asp?id=5B-64.011 appears to be the definitive source on illegal water plants in Florida (it may not include bog/merginals, so if choosing marginals, double check the FL noxious weed list at https://www.flrules.org/gateway/ruleno.asp?id=5B-57.007&Section=0. The FL illegal lists are Microsoft Office Word documents so I converted them to PDF documents for you in case you don't have Office (attached).

 

[Denise T]

Thank you for the great information!