Plants for mini-bog

[Paul Sabucchi]

Hi, as mentioned in a different post (silt that will not settle) my water seems to remain a little too murky for my liking. In a nutshell since last summer I have dug in a chain of 4 tub ponds+a small top basin. Up to now I have just water mint, rush and Egeria/Eleodea. I rigged up some additional filtration that is doing some good but not enough, although I have been advised to try adding weekly some Montmorillonite as a flocculant . So I am thinking plant/bog filtration may be better for the long run, thinking of converting the top basin as a mini-bog and putting the kidney-shaped pot beneath it with more pea-gravel and plants. What plants would you advise? I would prefer not too tall (as the wind can blow quite wicked) and hardy, even as equivalent to zone 9 (already about 80f and can top 100 in summer) and practically in the middle of the Mediterranean, in winter it can easily drop to well below freezing and get 3' snow (then I cover the tubs and plants). Thanks for any wisdom you can bestow.

 

[addy1]

I don't know what will do well there and what you can get. Look at some wild ponds, plant stores and on line to see what you can acquire.

Water willow is a neat small plant that does great. Purple flowers and stays around 12 inches tall.

 

[Mmathis]

I don’t know if this would be helpful, but you could do a Google search for pond plants that will grow well and are adapted for use in your area. I managed to find what I think was such a site, but since it was in Italian, I couldn’t say anything about it — other than it seemed to be set up like our US plant web sites are set up. Remember, too that countries may have restrictions on what you can obtain/transport, etc. as you don’t want to introduce a non-native and possibly invasive plant species.