Water hyssop: Dead or Dormant?

[ShawnInfirmity]

My water hyssop did quite well over the first winter we had last year but then again it was a pretty mild winter all things considered. This year however, we have had much colder weather and a long stretch of freezing temps that I thought was surely going to kill the plants in the pond. Upon further inspection (i.e. lifting up some of the brown/dead looking stuff) I'm finding little stems that are still green with healthy looking roots. Does that mean that the whole plant is still alive or is it possible for just little sections of the plant to have survived and the main part of the plant be dead? What would be the best way to tell if the plant is still alive and how would you best clean out the brown/dead looking stuff to make room for the new growth?

 

[Lisak1]

Most perennial plants have the ability to die back and then regrow from the roots. If you're seeing green, the plant is still alive.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

That's what I was thinking, but some of the green parts with healthy roots aren't even attached to the main part of the plant (in the pot) any longer. I'm not a plant expert but I suspect plants like water hyssop can kinda regenerate and grow from individual strands/runners? I tried to scoop out as much of the obviously dead strands/runners that I could yesterday and I ended up making the pond all murky/muddy looking in the process. I was not happy to say the least but if has cleared up quite a bit since then and should be better in no time.

In the future would it be better to just let the dead strands/runners stay in the pond and go through the natural decaying process? I was concerned all the dead and decaying organic material would through off my water parameters and could hurt the fish but I made a mess in the process.

 

[Lisak1]

I don't let anything decay in the pond. If I have plants that will fall into the pond, I cut them down in the fall. If I have plants that will stand all winter, I leave them until spring and then cut them down.

And yes, some perennials grow through runners. Others keep coming up in basically the same spot every year. Depends on the plant.

 

[ShawnInfirmity]

I finally pulled the pots up with the old Water Hyssop (Bacopa Monnieri) and replaced them with new plants I purchased at Creative Water Gardens. In addition to replacing the pots I pulled up any of the dead/decaying bits that I missed from the first clean out. This stirred up quite a bit of muck/mud and has made my pond very murky yet again, but the filter should take care of that shortly.

The question I have is whether I should pull the remaining bits of the old Bacopa that is still alive or leave it and try to let it regrow? The pictures I added show the new plants next to the stems of the old plants that seem to have survived and some of it is already showing new growth.



I also added two bunches of Parrots Feather since it has always done well in my bog and I really like the way it looks!

 

[Lisak1]

I'd leave it - once it gets started, it'll catch up.