Water Gardening: overwintering pond plants, 1 by Carolyn22

Carolyn22 wrote:
Kenny

Don't drain your pond for the winter - it really isn't necessary. If you have fish, you will need to install heaters to keep a hole open in the top of the water to allow a gas exchange. Otherwise, without the gas exchange, you will lose your fish.

Some of the plants you mentioned are hardy to your zone and some are not. The iris -if they are the water iris variety should be fine. They are very hardy and just need to be cut back in the late fall. The unicorn plant tends to be less prolific - you may want to either bring it indoors or drop it into the bottom of your pond. I am half a zone warmer than you are and I lost one last winter and the other one was fine and I did not put mine into the bottom of the pond. The umbrella palm tends to be more a tropical plant as are the cannas. You may want to bring them indoors. I have done this with both the umbrella palm and the canna - make sure to keep them moist - these 2 plants will not survive outdoors with our winters. You can try to keep the water lettuce and the water hyacinths and it is next to impossible. Dont' know if it is a light thing or what, but many of us have tried to overwinter these plants inside and it just has not worked.


Hope this helps....