"Shelf" plants -- what do you do?

[Mmathis]

Those of you who have shelf plants, do you leave them potted or do you just tuck them in among rocks? If you leave them to naturalize in the rocks, do you end up having any issues with them later?

I didn't make my shelves to be officail plant shelves. They are intended as places to stack rocks. So, except in a couple of places, they aren't wide enough to accomodate anything potted.

So far I've gotten away with Creeping Jenny, Parrots feather, and something in the mint family [though not aquatic mint]. Last fall I didn't have anywhere to stash some rushes, a couple of iris, and some dayliliies that are all eventually going into the bog. I stuffed them between the rocks. They look like they are all coming back. And today I received some pickeral rush and stuck those in the rocks, as well.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Emergent aquatic plants such as those that you already have, (rush, iris and daylily) will grow fine with just simple anchoring. I have seen pondkeepers basically tie these plants to bricks and they thrive as long as they are not planted too deep.

 

[sissy]

I saw one same thing a brick with the holes in it and he just broke the connectors in between the holes and used tulle for the plant roots and it is now 2 years old and holding up great

 

[bettasngoldfish]

Mine are in pots on a shelf planted in aquatic planting media and or aquarium gravel (this past spring was the first year I had them) The only one I placed bare root under rocks is the watercress and it did great.

 

[Linus_Cello]

I have potted marsh ladies tresses (spiranthes odorata) in the pond that self seeded outside of the pond on the other side of the rocks. (The ones not in the pond bloomed much better)