GardenMaid| Types of Pond Plants

Types of Pond Plants

Plants used in water gardening can be divided into 3 main categories based on how they are planted and where they grow submerged, marginal, and floating.

Submerged plants are plants that live almost completely under the water. Sometimes they have leaves or flowers that grow to the surface. The water lily is the best know example of that type of submerged plant. When Lilys are planted in a pond they are usually planted in containers, the top of which is placed so as to be 1-2 ft. below the water surface.

Other submerged plants may be planted as oxygenators. They are called oxygenators because they create oxygen for the fish that live in a pond. These plants are placed in a pond usually in a container 1-2 ft. below the water surface. Other than the water lily, some examples of submerged plants are:
Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)
Anacharis (Egeria densa)

Marginal plants are those that live with their roots under the water but the bulk of the plant grows above the surface. These are usually placed so that the top of the pot is at or no more than 2" below the water surface. You may be surprised to find a few garden flowers included in this list. Examples include:
Flag (Iris)
Bulrush (Scirpus lacustris)
Cattail (Typha latifolia)
Taro or Elephant Ear
Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus)
Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
Nelumbo (lotus)
Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)

Floating plants are not planted in soil at all, but are free-floating on the surface. In water gardening, these are often used as a provider of shade to keep down the growth of algae in a pond. These are often extremely fast growing. Some are banned by law in certain states as aquatic nuisances. Examples of these are:
Duckweed (Lemnaceae)
Mosquito ferns (Azolla)
Water-spangle (Salvinia)
Water-clover (Marsilea vestita)
Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes Rosette)
Water-hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

Well shall cover each of these in more detail in additional articles.

More Articles in this Section

●Why Have Pond Plants
●Balancing a Pond