tall grasses - in shade

HARO

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Most pond plants normally grow in full sun, since a marsh environment tends to have few trees.
John
 
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Haro,

see the pic attached i am trying to cover where the pond meets the deck, the grasses i used didnt do so well last year and i was looking for a replacement. The afternoon sun is behind it, maybe if i put some kind of grass very shallow in the water the tops may get some sun.

Anyway any suggestions greatly appreciated.
 

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Mondo grass but its not tall. Colocasia, but its not a grass. Papyrus and the flag iris. I have a lot of shade, just have to experiment. I have found that most grasses I have in the shade do better with the crowns above water level.
 
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If you build a kind of planter box in the pond so the bottom is in the water but the top of the box is say 6-12" above the water your options expand a great deal. Any grass would work. Or any other plant. You have to be careful about the soil because of leaching. I always used clay from the yard.
 
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I like the way it looks now. It kind of suggests that the pond might go under the porch. Things that will grow well in a pot on a shelf include iris, canna lilies, rain lilies, cat tails -- basically any "marginal" plant. Ferns generally prefer their pot to be partially above the water, but the fronds will droop to hide the pot.

I just noticed the "in shade" part. You can try some house plants. Pothos is a vine that grows like crazy in fish water, and can be trained up the side rails of the porch.
 
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thanks guys for the reply, it looks good from far away but once u get close you can see where the uv filter is and the gap between the deck. i was thinking of doing a long plastic planter box from home depot. i would like to keep the box mostly underwater so with that being said any suggestions on plants?

i was also going to prop the box up with bricks, is that ok to do?

@ waterbug which kind of dirt should I use? is there something from home depot i can use?
 
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micaaronfl76 said:
thanks guys for the reply, it looks good from far away but once u get close you can see where the uv filter is and the gap between the deck. i was thinking of doing a long plastic planter box from home depot. i would like to keep the box mostly underwater so with that being said any suggestions on plants?
Any of the plants listed above will do fine. I was going to suggest just what you are thinking about.

micaaronfl76 said:
i was also going to prop the box up with bricks, is that ok to do?

@ waterbug which kind of dirt should I use? is there something from home depot i can use?
Bricks are fine.

I just put mine in pots of gravel. They get their nutrients from the pond water.

IMG_0487.jpg


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IMG_0762.jpg


These pics were all taken when the ponds were very young, so the plants aren't well grown.

Here's a fern in a tiny stock tank pond. The filter dumps into the basket the plants are in.

IMG_0954.jpg
 
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micaaronfl76 said:
@ waterbug which kind of dirt should I use? is there something from home depot i can use?
Couple of ways to go. No soil media like pea gravel, crushed stone, kitty little. Rinse it off first to get the dust off. This type of media work good for almost fully submerged or submerged pots because the types of plants that can take their crowns in or almost in water are true marginals (pond plants) and they do fine in that can of media.

As you raise the crowns higher and higher above water more and more other kinds of normal garden plants can be used. These really need clay dirt, normally right out of the yard if you dig down a few feet in many areas. The clay helps wick water up into the soil.
 
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alright changing the subject, do u see in my pic the middle of the pic where the corner of the deck is where the electrical outlet is. now this isnt a aquatic plant but looking for suggestions to replace that pitiful looking plant. it has to be a perrenial.
 

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