My first plants!

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Had the opportunity to grab a number of winter hardy (zone 6) pond plants today from my local pond store! Still learning how best to plant and/or position them and need to get something to raise a couple pots up higher on the shelf, but man what a difference already!

For the larger plants, they all came in 8" black plastic pots with holes and the pond store recommended that I simply use another pot, pan or some other item to raise them up and put the whole pot right into the pond. Clearly the plant can't grow and spread this way but maybe that's the point? The smaller creeping plants I was able to plant in wet rock crevices, etc using the dirt ball they were planted in and spread them out accordingly.

When it's time to prep for winter do I need to do anything with these or just let them ride out winter exactly as they are?
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Any tips are always appreciated!
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
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I put in plants and just let the ride, what survives get to stick around. Anything that dies gets to stay dead and not replaced.
 
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You can keep plants in pots, but I've found they will not overwinter that way. Our first year we had a lot of potted plants when fall rolled around - more than I felt comfortable putting in the bottom of the pond. I was afraid the fish wouldn't have room to get to the deepest part of the pond. So I planted them! I pulled them out of the pots, dug them right into my garden, mulched over them really well and left them for the winter. That was about 85% successful. When spring came, I dug them back up and planted them directly into the pond. If you do keep potted plants in the pond, I would recommend you drop them below the ice or even to the bottom of the pond. Cut them all the way back and sink them. Just make sure you plan for how you will get them back out again! I saw one ponder who used one of those collapsible net laundry hampers - he staked all the pots in the hamper, tied a rope to the handles and sunk the whole thing. Come spring he could just pull it back up again. To me, that's a lot more work than I care to do, especially since it has to be done in spring when the pond is still cold!

Naturalizing your plants in the simplest way to care for them - because then they take care of themselves! For some of my marginals, I made in-pond "planters" on shelves by creating circles of rocks, filling the circle with gravel, and planting the plant right in the gravel. Use rocks that are big enough to hold enough gravel to raise your plants to the level they prefer for growing. Obviously how big the rocks need to be depends on how deep your plant shelf is. They will establish a good root ball and your next challenge will be to keep them from taking over the pond! Most of my pond "work" now is thinning and grooming plants.

The rest of the plants were planted just like you mentioned - tucked into spots between rocks where they could be secured long enough for them to start growing.
 

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