Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Identifying plants any suggestions on what to plant

hey guys my pond is done. i was wondering if you all had suggestions on 2 or 3 basic aquatic plants to put out as the water level rises. not really wanting to drop a ton of money on plants but if imortant i will. i live 70 south of st louis so we will be getting cold weather. id like to have some plants that will make it through the winter. lilly pads seem to take over a pond so i was needing some advice on plants that wont go crazy.

still love this site!

Poison ivy for trespassers.

I think it's firstly important to get a plant that solidifies your soil. Something like an annual wheat. Yeah, it'll die off, but natural vegetation will take it's place. If you're wondering about aquatics, in Lincoln TJ and Bruce have a very cool pondweed (can't think of the name off the top of my head) in some of their ponds. It's all around the shoreline most of the year, I believe, but isn't overwhelming and keeps any algae away. And really easy to run a net through. Something to think about in the future. I'm considering introducing it into my small pond once it's built.

Pickerel weed is a nice aquatic plant and will survive the winter.

Are you looking for submerged plants, emergent plants or plants for above the capillary zone on shore?

The capillary zone was one of my favorite programs as a kid, the outer limits was good too, ---- oh sorry I need my glasses.

wow, the Pickerel weed looks awesome. dude....that is excatly the look i was going for. cant say i would have ever known that until you put the pic on here. i would like to put a couple of those out and im thinking of planting a cypress tree about 20ft from the shallow bank of the pond. i was always told a cypress brings the bugs which in turn fall to the fish bellow.

I would get some annual rye, wheat and/or oats in the pond basin to lessen erosion while filling. Aquatic plants will start naturally in your area. I really like the blue Iris and Arrow Arum Sagetteria as marginal plants.

hey rainman you going to be comin to my area anytime soon. i got about 3 foot of water and wouldnt mind getting some minnows from ya. my only other option is driving to carbondale IL.

I'll be through there within a couple weeks.

got any gambusa minners?

RRat - Water lilies do not always take over a pond IF you plant the proper lily or variety. Some hybrid hardy lilies are dwarfs or small types and only grow in ralatively shallow water and spread very slowly. Often the biggest compaint about these lilies is they don't grow fast enough. For lots of information about hybrid, hardy, water lilies see my recent articles about water lilies for ponds in PBoss magazine back issues Mar-Apr 10-Pt1 and Jul-Aug -Pt2.

thanks bill! ive found that there are a lot of topics that are excellent as long as im willing to go back and sometimes waaay back on the forums.

one question about lillies. if a pond is drained down or evaporated down to the point the lillies are on dry ground. what will happen to them. can they survive?

Dewatering existing lilies is normally okay. The damp ground normally keeps them viable. They will regrow in the spring when covered with water. Dewatering lilies and the roots freeze during winter will usually kill the roots/rhizomes, then no regrowth occurs in spring. We are talking about hardy hybrid water lilies and not tropical water lilies.

thanks. i just hope my pathetic red clay soil will be nutritional enough for anything to grow.

My uncle's pond in NJ has that lousy red clay soil (Actually fantastic for holding water) and we find it tough to get plants growing. I have tried many times and am finally successful to some degree. Compounding that, there are pesky geese that show up and eat everything. For the plants around the edge like iris, we dug large holes and planted the plants with topsoil around them to get them going and used some fertilizer spikes in there. For the geese, we made small fences around the plants with fishing line to keep them out.