Propagating a great pond & marginal plant

[Stephen Noble]

Umbrella palm (Cyperus alternifolius) is a great pond and bog plant. Easy to grow, divide and also propagate. This is one way to avoid the high cost of pond and bog plants. If you know someone who has a mature plant, take a stem cutting, trim the leaves down to about one-inch in length and float it upside down in a dish of water. It will grow roots and can be planted after a new stem appears. Another way is to simply take a stem and bend it over enough for the 'umbrella' to float, upside down at the water's surface. You can either trim the leaves or leave them long as I did in my photos. Image two shows the stem bent over. Image three shows the roots and new plant emerging from the water. Good luck!
Stephen

 

[Mmathis]

What zone?

 

[Stephen Noble]

I have kept them outdoors as far north as zone 5. The trick is to trim off all of the stems in the fall, well below the waterline,and keep them from freezing solid. I speculate that they can be kept well north of that if the water doesn't freeze solid. This is a very hardy plant and really beautiful. I am on the 15th year of growth from the original plant I purchased from a greenhouse. It was expensive at the time but since then, I have propagated and divided the original plant many times and also shared them with friends.
Stephen

 

[Jhn]

What zone?

Zone 7/8 I think. I am in 7a/b and had to bring it inside. It Wouldn’t survive the winters here.

Edit....Stephen, Interesting, never tried cutting it down when I had it. If I get it again, will definitely try that.

 

[Stephen Noble]

Yeah, you might be right on this. I used a Laguna 'UFO' heater to keep a hole in the ice so that might have contributed to my success overwintering outside. The pond planter was three-feet deep during the winter. I also had a couple of them growing in shallow porch ponds and brought them inside to overwinter because they would have certainly frozen solid.
Stephen

 

[Linus_Cello]

Maybe try moving it to the bottom of the pond in late fall so it doesn’t freeze

Zone 7/8 I think. I am in 7a/b and had to bring it inside. It Wouldn’t survive the winters here.

Edit....Stephen, Interesting, never tried cutting it down when I had it. If I get it again, will definitely try that.

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Zone 7/8 I think. I am in 7a/b and had to bring it inside. It Wouldn’t survive the winters here.

Edit....Stephen, Interesting, never tried cutting it down when I had it. If I get it again, will definitely try that.[/QUOTp

 

[qclabrat]

beautiful plant, but didn't think it would survive NorthernNJ winters
May consider trying again given your wintering tips

 

[Stephen Noble]

It does fine in zone 5 but again, I used a pond heater to keep a hole in the ice. The heater kicked in at around 37 degrees (F). I didn't trim the stems the first year and the plant suffered but survived. After that, I always cut the stems back. Any new growth with stems an inch or so long are not cut. They are well submerged and seem to go dormant until spring. In the Fall, I always 'hedged my bet' and propagated a few new plants just in case. The new plants were brought inside to overwinter. Those were used in my other ponds the following spring, given away to other pond keepers or kept indoors for very unusual aquatic displays.
Stephen