Hi Everyone! I have been reading that these need constant moisture. Just received an unnamed cultivar and am thinking about putting in with the pond plants. Thanks for any tips or advice! Sue
Can all Japanese Iris be planted in pond?
Glad you asked! I will be watching for an answer also since I was wondering which could ce used in the pond and which couldn't
I have five Japanese Iris that I leave in my bog area year round and they do fine there. I am not sure if ALL of them can be but I felt it was worth the risk.
Thanks Ponditis, I will divvy them up and try both methods then. Too bad I have to wait until next year to see them!
Lani, can you please explain a bog?? Could you put bog plants right in water covered gravel? Does there have to be soil? How is it any different than a pot of dirt on the side? That should keep you busy a second. LOL
a bog is just an area that stays moist all the time. I have done them with just gravel or with soil. Sometimes with liners and sometimes with a natural low spot in the yard that might stay moister than the rest of the yard. Cattail, rush, arrowhead arum, etc. can be grown there. I have also used a gravel filled bog as a vegi filter for a pond. Actually was my best filter ever as the plants used the nutrients that the fish gave out that pond was crystal clear all the time except for about 4 weeks in the spring. That bog filter was about one third the size of the pond. Most bog plants don't require more than just constantly moist soil.
Just remember you are going to breed mosquitos if you aren't careful about how much water is above the plants. Most of the time I try to get mosquito fish or guppies and make a small area of open water for the fish to live because eventually the larvae of the mosquitos will wander into that area and be gobbled up by the fish. OR you can put about 2 to 3 inches of water over the plants and have the small mosquito fish. Some people use the mosquito fish as an annual expense and in some states they might be illegal but I know guppies aren't. Just get the cheap "feeder" guppies and enjoy when you do see them.
Hope this answers your questions.
Yup you kept me busy for just a second Chele but you also got one of my gabby spiels. "evil laugh"
LOL Just a second Lani?? Actually you did answer some questions for me. I ended up taking out the bathtub veggie filter. I now have a 'channel' about six feet long that empties into roundish area about three by three, maybe bigger. The top one has the the outlet going into my pvc set up with gravel and quilt batting. So far the lower is just gravel and water, probably six to eight inches deep. It is mostly filled with gravel then a few inches of water on top and I have plants in it. They seem to be doing very well. I am still thinking about putting in one more level, even higher. First I have to replant all the plants I took out in order to add the first two levels. This is the one time I am happy about all the cool and rainy weather. The plants still look good,even sitting in trays and on the ground. LOL Thanks Lani! You rock!
LOL That is the first time I have been told that I rock. Well maybe I am a rock as in rock headed on some things but I really think that a bog filter is the ultimate in filters for a pond. Those bog plants really use up the nutrients that would otherwise cause algae or cloudy water. Your plan sounds great Chele. On our koi pond that we are building we will have a series of bog filters in line above the waterfall and then into the waterfall. We have also installed a bottom drain and a skimmer as this pond is for the koi that I plan to raise to show. I will only have about three waterlilies in the pond itself and the plants will be profuse in the upper ponds. Don't forget that these plants really grow fast and if you get them too thick or deep they are very VERY heavy to pick up if you ever need to move them. The last bog filter we did was too deep (18 inches) and it took five men to lift my plants when we needed to treat the pond with something that would kill the plants.