My guess would be arrowhead??
Plants you might not have thought of as water plants?
I agree; this is a great thread. Re; forget me knots; I have them on the edge in a boggy area; do you actually put them in the pond. They are so beautiful right now, blooming. Will have to send a pic.
hi there i have a pond with a waterfall and i have spiderplants, pitcher plants and some wild begonia and they have not harmed my fish here is an old picture before i added these plants i have all sorts near the pond if you would like some of my begonia i would be glad to share (it loves the water)
debi
Acorus gramineus 'Variegatus'
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54901/ Went to my local aquarium store and they had this in thier pants tank for $2.49 for ONE little 2 leaf spriig of it -- I must have about a thousand dollars worth in one pot!
They had it completely submerged, I know that mine like to have their feet wet..
I do know that when I was in college that I used my philodendron cuttings and Wandering Jew cuttings as aquarium plants and they lasted for months and months. Pothos, too.
Many terrestrial plant are sold as aquarium plants. While they can grow completely submerged for a period of time they are not true aquatics and will eventually die. The way to tell for certain if it's a true aquatic is if the stems stand up by themselves when they are out of the water. Plants that grow naturally underwater don't put any energy into growing stems or leaves that can stand up unaided when out of the water. If it flops out of the water it's a true aquatic. If the stems/leaves have the strength to stand up out of the water it's not a plant that will survive total immersion indefinitely.
Wow, I didn't know of the climate change of which you speak. Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I spent the entirely of last summer in Jacksonville undergoing proton therapy for prostate cancer at the University of Florida Proton Therapy Institue. I can't remember many days (June-Aug) when it wasn't exactly what you describe: downpours and thunder between 2 and 5 pm. We were looking forward to lovely afternoon walks, etc. LOL Is Gainseville that different, even though it's only an hour or so away? We had the "joy" of going through Tropical Storm Faye, and watched while cars on the street a few blocks from us had water above their windows. What amazed us was that as soon as it was over, the water was completely gone in an hour or so. Incredible! So you folks use Gunnera Manicata? We love them here, and there are numerous cultivars of them.
Yes, the interior of FL can be quite different from the coastal regions, even though technically we are only 45 minutes from the ocean. The reason we get afternoon storms in summer here is because we are in what is called the interconvergence zone for the East Coast and West Coast seabreezes. They generally meet each other right over Gainesville area, and because one is cooler than the other they trigger rains. But in the last several seasons they have been less, and less, and less.
And no. we can;t grow Gunnera here. They melt in the heat
blondhavmofun....Where did you get all those rocks in Orlando? They look great! Please post more pics, I love to see local ponders and what they've done!
:)
gothqueen- We live on the Texas coast just below Galveston, and I have had a Chameleon plant in our pond for a couple of years, now. It is in a 10" square mesh planter in aquatic soil with crushed limestone on top. The top 1" or so is out of the water, and the Chameleon plant has filled it, but it stays in its place without "traveling". It gets an hour or two of direct sun, and that seems to keep the color up. Jim
I know exactly where you live. I was born and raised in TX and grew up on the Gulf coast (went to UTMB at Galveston, too, LOL!)
Well, I made the mistake several years ago of actually planting Chameleon Plant in my flowerbed by my swimming pool here and now it is firmly established and has invaded everywhere. Its okay, there could be worse ground covers, LOL. I pull it out around stuff when it tried to engulf other plants, it comes right back, its a Spring-Summer-Fall long activity. It grows, carefree, in full sun for 12+ hours daily. Its very happy as a terrestrial, and fully 100% hardy here
gothqueen- I don't know if you are aware of it, but Hurricane Ike did a lot of damage to UTMB and they still haven't opened back up yet (Ike came through back in September). There is some talk that they may never re-open. So if you still have a t-shirt or something with UTMB on it, it may end up a collector's item. Later, Jim
We knew that there was a lot of damage there, but like everything else we did not know the extent. My husband still has contacts there at the Medical School, we know that some of the hospitals and facilities are back up and running on at least a limited basis. We still have family and lots of friends in TX so keep abreast of stuff. Its sad.
Okay, it's a beautiful day here in Chicagoland (that means Chicago and suburbs...) and I have been planting for the past 48 hours (not to forget to mention weeding as well). I planted up some calla lillys in a pot and put it in my stream bed. I am looking forward to that growing/blooming.
Linda
Hi Linda..just remember to bring those Calla's in in the winter. Mine from last year are toast! Will have to pick up a couple when I see them. They looked great in the pond last year. My hosta's came back and are starting to leaf out. Yeah!
Picked up 3 calla's today. The nursery sure had some pretty ones.
and the pink one
I have placed pots of daffodils & tulips around the pond this year.
They are very cheery and the koi like them too!LOL
Beehive your callas are so pretty. Our WM has callas marked to half price now and I got a bag of purple ones for 2.50 and the other day one of the Ace's had black callas bulbs almost as big as my fist lol. So of course I got one of those too. Will the callas for the pond grow in the pot with just kitty litter or do they need soil?
I leave them potted (soil) and place them only an inch or two in the water.
I got the calla's situated in the pond today. Here is the yellow.
And the pink one. They seem happy in their new home.
Hostas have done well in my pond and stream.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/756378/
I am a little surprised on the calla lilies. I had them planted last year in a pot under an eve of the porch and didn't realize how much rain water was being dumped into the pot until one or two of the leaves started turning yellow. At that point I dumped the mud and the calla lily bulbs were starting to get soft spots and smelled awful. I cut away the rotting spots and managed to save them. I was growing the big giant whites.
The calla's can take the water at the roots but the bulb can not be submersed like most water plants.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2009 7:30 AM
Thank you so much, cause I was really confused on why everyone was having good luck with them.
Texas Star Hibiscus does very well as a bog plant.
I just found this thread. Very good information! I have a small raised "pond", which is really more like a fountain. I take it down in the winter and re-do it every summer. I put papyrus in the water and bring it inside in the winter where it sits in a pot. I have used canna lilies as an annual and just put them in pots of water. We have a very dry climate and it does snow and get cold in the winter, too. I have used begonias and impatiens around the edges but not directly in water. I like the idea of using hostas! Thanks, you all, for the new ideas.
I went to the library and checked out a few pond books and one on water gardening. The water garden book has St. John's Wort listed as a marginal pond plant. Any one else growing it that way? Wonder what other herbs besides mint would do good?
I had a very, VERY large water garden in my former home in full Central Texas sun and heat. I was able to grow a lot of moisture-loving plants in pots positioned around the pond with the base just below the surface. I would never have been able to keep those plants alive in this dry climate if they were in the ground, but most of them seemed to love the pond. It's fun to experiment.