I am just completing my first water garden and am now in the plant stage, and a few questions have come up. First, my plant shelf turned out to be deeper than the potted plants I've gotten. Can I put these plants in water that is 6" deeper or so than the water they were in in the nursery. Plenty of plant will remain above the water's surface, but not near as much as before.
Second, I created spaces for marginals along the water's edge. The soil between the rocks, which are inside the liner, is fully saturated almost to the surface. Can I plant marginal plants such as Lobelia and Ligularia, which came from a regular nursery and so were not kept in water, into this soil?
Last, is Iris ensata okay to grow as a water plant? I always thought of it as a water-loving ground iris, but I have heard a few things which make me wonder.
scott
Two questions
What are you planning on putting on your shelves? If you want to put water lilies or tall marginals like papyrus there they should be fine. Six inches is really not that much unless the plant itself is supposed to be that tall. You could always put some of the smaller plants on a brick or something to raise them up a little if you would like to.
As far as your other marginals are concerned, if they are established plants I would say to plant them where you want to. I have a lot of things planted in various places where they are not supposed to grow. As an example, giant reed grass is an aquatic plant but I thought it was bamboo so I planted it in a nice well drained area where it thrived for years and still does. After I found out what I really had I put a clump in a pot and put in shallow water and it is quite happy there as well.