I've seen a lot of people speaking of taking their plants out of their ponds for the winter. I live in South Mississippi. Our swamps here keep having water hyacinths & my pasture pond always has water lilies that bloom all summer. Are there any types of plants I'll have to take out, & if so, HOW? Where would one keep water plants???
Nancy
Over-Wintering Pond Plants in zone 8?
Zone 8b?
What do you have in your pond that you think may need over-wintering? I can only imagine it would have to be a rather tender tropical. If you're only a 90 minute drive to the Gulf, then I imgaine you're not getting much in the way of frost, etc.
ANYHOW ...
Any plants that you think may need over-wintering, look them up and double check what zones they are winter-hardy to. If you have any that are 9 or above, you probably need to bring them inside for the winter. Now .... HOW you do that is the question I know that is at stake here. That really depends on what plant we're talking about. Purely aquatic plants such as Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinth and Parrotfeather, for example, would just be kept in a tub or aquarium for the winter. Light is important, so have them close to a sunny window window or under artificial lights intended for plant growth.
I'm glad to find this thread. I live in Zone 8 and inherited a pond when I moved into this house in January. It's above ground (a shallow bowl about 6 Ft across and 1 Ft deep in the middle. I think it would get colder than an in-ground pond. I have water hyacinths and lettuce and some kind of floating grass that's supposed to help keep it clean. There are a bunch of goldfish that have doubled in size since I put them in there. I sure didn't plan ahead and let my enthusiasm get ahead of me, now I'm afraid I'm going to have a big old mess!
You may have a problem if you have a prolonged cold spell. Obviously if we had cold weather that froze the water solid. The plant and fish will be popsicles . :( For a pond that size...one of those pond heaters might be a good thing to have for a backup plan.
Do you keep the pump running all winter? Or just a heater and then would the water stagnate? Sorry, I'm a newbie at this and may ask some dumb questions.
Yes...if I had fish I would keep the pump running...I think it keeps the water fresher. :)