I have a pretty small water fountain pot, and so far I have in it a teenie bit of parrot feather, a reed thrush, and water clover. The clover is doing fair, thrush is great, and the small bit of leftover parrot feather (as most of the mini one I had croaked).
What plant would you absolutely insist on having in your water feature?
TIA,
Jennifer
the "can't live without it" plant ..
water hyacinth
Ack.. illegal in SC .... :)
What's the next favorite? :)
water lettuce?
I'd say depending on size of pond,Papyrus(sp?)for a small pond the dwarf style.
There are very small water lilys that can be grown in a small area.....even a water feature made from a half whiskey barrell. Some can be grown in the shade.
Forgot to tell you that waterlotuses come in both small and large sizes and are hardy. The stems extend up from the pot and remain above the water. The blooms are also tall and above the water. They are georgeous!
well, I guess I was thinking pretty small. Lilies don't like moving water. I love lotus, how big is your water space?
tiG, my ponds are 130 and 50 gallon that I have the lotus in. The small lotus in the 50 gallon pond can be, according to the water nursery, be maintained in a large pot. My pond is in the ground so it can stay in the pond all winter. I was told that, after the plant goes dormant for the winter, it can be brought inside and kept in a cool place with about 2" of water covering it in the container it is planted in. The container should be 4 or 5 gallon size (a dish pan is fine) and then the container is placed in the pot the water garden is in during the spring(when the water temp is the same temp as the place it has been overwintered in) thru the summer and until the leaves die back.
I have not tried to bring mine in over the winter since the pond is below ground, but I am currently growing a new lotus from a rhizome. I have it in a dish pan with two and a half inches of water in it. When the water in the container outside reaches the temperature of our house, I will take it outside and put the planting container in a large pot. They are lovely even put into a 15-20 gallon plastic tub that you can get for $5 at Wal-Mart.
I've got all my lotus in big pots, out of the pond. DH hurt his back pulling them out every year, so I have them beside the pond and around the yard.
Angel says hers is pretty small, I don't know if a lotus would work, but they are the best water plant by far.
pretty small = about 20 gallons ... it's a large pot. I ended up going with some more full-size parrot feather. The mini-version didn't do well, and I'm hoping this grows happily.
thanks all,
-Jennifer