PLAIN PLANT TALK FOR NEWBIES

[addy1]

The blue lobelia, (same as red cardinal but blue) has done great here, freezes hard and comes back.
Creeping jenny, grow in the dirt let it trail into the pond.
dwarf cat tails, grow well, easy to control, if they grow too much just yank.

 

[Mmathis]

Fishin -- sounds like a good list to get me started!

How do most of you guys obtain your plants [initially, at least]? Local retailers, mail order, from friends? I haven't looked into this yet, so don't know what my local options are.

 

[HARO]

Around here, many of the garden centers carry a variety of pond plant in the spring and early summer. John

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Another consideration, if you're really worried about the survivability of your plants -- pick plants which come from slightly colder regions. For example, I live in zone 5, but I have many plants which are rated for zones 3-4. Because these plants are hardier than required, they actually stay greener for longer through the year, and of course there's never any problem with them coming back.

I've not been happy with the plants I got from mail-order, but it may have just been the companies I dealt with. I got much healthier plants from local nurseries that carry pond plants. Some of the grasses cost twice as much as mail-order, but I got 5x as much plant for my money. Getting plants (or plant ideas) from friends is great, because then you can see how well the plants do in your area. Be careful with getting plants from the wild, as you don't want to bring parasites into your pond.

 

[adavisus]

Bearing in mind the size of the pond, modest size, easy to control, robust enough to cope with hot summers would be a useful set of priorities, plants which when they settle in will help moderate water temperatures through the season

Surface coverage:
Water hyacinth, fast foliage early in the season, easy to pitch when it masses up

Eyecatching specimen plant:
Small tropical waterlily e.g. Tina, Islamorada, Madame Ganna Walska

Petite tall heat tolerant plants:
Any of Japanese rush, Pickerel, Cyperus isocladus, Umbrella palm

Those three 'types' of plants will get along fairly easy to control, the trop lily over one side where you can keep it from being entangled and crowded, the hyacinth where it can mass up, the tallish plant tough enough to cope with wherever it is best used.

Groups of three or five complimentary plants as a group tends to have a natural symmetry

Allowing a space for open water, sufficient to see into the deep part of the pond is useful, to notice how stable the water quality is. Things can go wrong fast, out of sight...

Anything else might be chosen for eye candy, predator cover... or nibblies for the fish

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[sissy]

Adavisus I can not understand why I have no luck with water hyacinth or water lettuce in my pond even in the floating ring .To keep them safe from koi ,I take them out and put them in a concrete mixing tub and they grow great .My pond is in full sun and I here they like sun but they shrivel and turn brown .Is it because there is not any nutrients in the pond to help them .I know in the concrete tub I put lava rock on the bottom and nothing but water and the plants and yet they grow healthy and the water is always crystal clear in the tub .There really can't be any nutrients in there for them and the tub is in full sun also



this is a pic of them in the concrete mixing tub

 

[sissy]

oh and the pump was just in there to keep the seals wet

 

[Shdwdrgn]

You know, I had miserable luck with hyacinths this year in my new pond. Same location as the old pond, so same conditions as far as light and water, and also the same fish. In previous years I have given away hyacinths by the bucketful starting in early July, but this year they barely even kept growing. I'll have to see what happens next year, but I am wondering if it has anything to do with my new pond having faster-moving water? Its so hard to tell with some plants...

 

[sissy]

Faster moving water I would think would help them .I was wondering if there was not enough nutrients in the water to help them grow .Maybe the waters to clean

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Yeah I'm hoping for much better luck next year. I'm not one for water changes, so there should be plenty of nutrients in the water, especially after a Winter of leftovers sitting in the bottom.

 

[adavisus]

If you measure the nitrates at 0, that might indicate there is insufficient fertility Sissy

I have heard of folk noticing, on well filtered ponds that plants struggle

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[sissy]

I'm maybe thinking that could be what goes on but thought since I have 13 fish and 2 are over 2 feet long and all the rest are 8 to 10 inches long that it could not be too clean . I can get water lilies to grow but not any floating plants .I have 3 strawberry and cream plants and 2 elephat ear and a creeping jenny growing in the pond and they grow fine .I have 4 water lilies

 

[fishin4cars]

Fishin -- sounds like a good list to get me started!

How do most of you guys obtain your plants [initially, at least]? Local retailers, mail order, from friends? I haven't looked into this yet, so don't know what my local options are.

Be sure and check the gardening expo in the spring around the Alexandria area, there is a HUGE plant exhibition and you can buy plants from the wholesalers at wholesale prices. There are farms after farms that raise all kinds of plants, we found drawf japanese maples and lots of water plants at a nursury off the road that most of the farms were on. the farm didn't sell the water plants wholesale but they were selling them for really low prices and many were lots nicer than most pond stores I have seen in this area.
Hopefully if all goes well we will be starting the new business and will be trying to buy some plants wholesale and be available this spring.

 

[Mmathis]

FISHIN -- Will do. Thanks for the heads-up!