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Pond Plants for the Water Garden
Pond plants for gardens exist in the wild as wetland plants or bog plants. Introducing them to your pond will help to maintain the water balance inside the pond by absorbing carbon dioxide and minerals from the water. This, in turn, will starve algae, preventing your pond from turning murky. To maintain the correct balance, about half of the water surface should be covered with pond plants.
Pond plants fall into four basic groups, each of which is important to the health of the pond:
- Oxygenators, considered one of the most important groups of plants in the pond, grow rapidly, using nutrients that would otherwise be used by algae.
- Marginals, primarily ornamental plants, grow in shallow water or saturated soil around the perimeter of ponds or along the banks of streams.
- Floaters, plants that float freely on the water's surface, reduce algae by competing for nutrients, shading the water to cool it and lowering the light penetration. Most floaters are tropical and should be removed from the pond and composted prior to the onset of winter
- Submerged plants—plants that grow beneath the water's surface—remove excess nutrients from the pond, thereby reducing the growth of algae.
Bog Plants for a Bog Garden
As an alternative to a pond garden, you can use bog plants to create a bog garden. Ponds are not essential for bog plants but they must be located in a low-lying area where water drains naturally. Ideally, bog plants should be placed around the edges of a pond where they will not only get sufficient moisture but will also provide vertical accent and texture contrast to a water garden.
Although many bog plants are grown for their leaves, others produce brilliant flowers that bloom during various times of the year. The following are some common types of bog plants:
- Water irises, one of the most popular types of bog plants, range in height from 6 inches to 6 feet and vary in color from red to yellow to purple. These plants filter ponds well and can be grown in virtually any moist area.
- Water hyacinthsare floating plants with upright leaves that act as sails. The spongy stalk keeps the plant buoyant and produces purple or blue flowers. Water hyacinth, considered one of the most productive plants on earth, is abundant in the Florida wetlands. It forms dense mats that significantly decrease water flow, creating good breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
- Reeds and rushes like cattails, papyrus, bulrush and pickerel are all types of bog plants that thrive in either full shade or sun.
