plants for waterfall filter

Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
what are some good plants to place on my filter falls? i have a fairly heavy grate on top of it with a lot of river rock, but it looks pretty bare. on a whim i bought some stuff late last summer (some grasses, a hibiscus, etc) that looked good, but doesn't seem to have survived overwintering in my garage. what looks good up there that will actually survive a michigan winter?
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,337
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
Penguins,lol!
bad bad bad jw...............he is asking about plants!

Rush seems to be pretty hardy, great root mass. Here stayed green all winter, this year. Iris seem to do fine also, again here stay green all winter,
 

koiguy1969

GIGGETY-GIGGETY!!
Joined
Dec 15, 2008
Messages
10,587
Reaction score
6,408
Location
Michigan zone 5b
theres not much of a selection to put in a filter...youd be best off with floaters like hiacynths and lettuce...long fiberous hungry roots...great on nitrates and fines. i am in michigan as well...you may have to replace them yearly but for filtering fines and nitrates, its unlikely you'll find anything better for in a filter. and they love the moving water.in the top of a filter, they grow and reproduce so fast they will hide your filter well.
 

sissy

sissy
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
33,086
Reaction score
15,702
Location
Axton virginia
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
polar bears .I really don't think there would be many plants that would survive the winter in frozen pot .I am guessing you must have kept them in there pots and just put them on top of the filter .I would think most roots could not take cold in a pot and last winter being mild if those did not survive where you had them ,then not much will .You will have treat most plants as annual unless you can find out from your local nursery what will work
 

taherrmann4

Tmann
Joined
Mar 3, 2011
Messages
3,142
Reaction score
701
Location
Louisville KY
Hardiness Zone
6
Country
United States
What about planting some small cattails or chives. I have both that grow in my creeks and they survive the winter here in KY.
 

sissy

sissy
Joined
Jan 17, 2011
Messages
33,086
Reaction score
15,702
Location
Axton virginia
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
7A
Country
United States
I wonder since he says on does he mean in or on top of a cover that is on the filter .Floating surely nothing would survive .I bought ginger root at the grocery store and it started to take root and I have it planted in gravel but wonder how it would do in a pond and if it is fish safe .I grew ginger like it at my house in NJ and thought what heck give it a try again .I wonder also if clumping bamboo would work for him in or out of water it grows .Remember this past winter was mild for every one so things survived that may not have in a normal winter .
 

addy1

water gardener / gold fish and shubunkins
Moderator
Joined
Jun 23, 2010
Messages
44,337
Reaction score
29,089
Location
Frederick, Maryland
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
6b
Country
United States
The dwarf cat tails would do fine. My rush has huge mass of roots and has survived a mild winter and a very cold winter.
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
I am guessing you must have kept them in there pots and just put them on top of the filter

that's exactly what i did. then i just brought the pots into the garage around november. they actually seemed to be alive for most of the winter, and just didn't quite make it.
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
I wonder since he says on does he mean in or on top of a cover that is on the filter .Floating surely nothing would survive .I bought ginger root at the grocery store and it started to take root and I have it planted in gravel but wonder how it would do in a pond and if it is fish safe .I grew ginger like it at my house in NJ and thought what heck give it a try again .I wonder also if clumping bamboo would work for him in or out of water it grows .Remember this past winter was mild for every one so things survived that may not have in a normal winter .

on top of my filter is a heavy duty grate that you can put rocks on. this is what i'm referring to. I put the pots on the grate and stacked river rocks around the pots to hide them.

i also used some floating lettuce like someone above suggested. it worked out pretty well. i was just wondering if there were any plants that would do better up there in pots, or even without pots like the water lettuce.
 

j.w

I Love my Goldies
Joined
Feb 1, 2010
Messages
32,946
Reaction score
20,252
Location
Arlington, Washington
Showcase(s):
1
Hardiness Zone
USDA 8a
Country
United States
You have a nice pond there damian and love the way you have your falls so it goes into a pool and then down another falls into the pond!
Too bad you can't have Parrots Feather there as it would flow down your falls and looks cool but only hardy to zone 6 or if you put it underwater in zone 5 for winter. You'd have to bring it all indoors or in a garage for winter in a water tub.
 
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
138
Reaction score
1
Location
Rochester Hills, MI
actually the stuff on top of the waterfall filter doesn't float off because i have river rock stacked up and the water flows through that. anything on top pretty much stays up there. i'm going to have to look for some of this parrot feather stuff!
 

HARO

Pondcrastinator
Joined
Jun 30, 2011
Messages
5,438
Reaction score
6,231
Location
Ontario, Canada
Hardiness Zone
5b
Country
Canada
Mares tail is very similar to parrotsfeather, and hardy as he..!
John
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
30,780
Messages
508,553
Members
13,042
Latest member
lucaryan

Latest Threads

Top