Pond plants and supplies for backyard ponds, streams, bogs and water gardens.

Location, location, location… Pond plants really do have preferences for their ideal location in your water garden.

For example, water lilies need a minimum of 4-6 hours direct sunlight to provide you with blooms throughout the season. Water lilies prefer calm water, so try to position them away from strong currents, waterfalls and skimmers.

Umbrella palms have stems that will reach 1 -3 feet above the waters surface, making them a great plant for the background or as an accent. The tall plants can also be located near skimmers, where their sturdy stems will form a living fence to help prevent surface floating plants from lodging against or slipping into the skimmer.

Duckweed and fairy moss are teeny tiny, and will still slip past the umbrella palms‘ stems into a skimmer. We contain our duckweed and fairy moss in empty planting baskets. The baskets float in the pond and are nearly invisible. Only the top edge of the basket will break the water’s surface. This minimal barrier offers just enough height to contain very small floating plants, such as duckweed and fairy moss. If your backyard pond has strong currents, the planting baskets may need to be anchored to prevent them from drifting into rough water that may cause the baskets to tip. This tip also works for larger floating plants, such as water lettuce or water hyacinth.

No matter what types of aquatic plants you choose for your water garden, always remember to think about their needs before you plant them. This will save you the trouble of relocating them later, and ensure your pond plants are sited in the best location from the very beginning.

Tags: duckweed, fairy moss, umbrella palm, water hyacinth, water lettuce, water lily

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 17th, 2009 at 5:32 pm and is filed under Caring for Pond Plants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.