Water Plants
Adding colour and variety to your pondWe carry a wide variety of water plants hardy enough to live in Calgary
Ponds have become places where the beauty and tranquility of water amongst foliage can be easily integrated into your garden.
- Plants add color and interest to a pond, reduce algae by shading water, reduce evaporation and release oxygen which is used by fish.
- Do not use too many plants. Some open water should be visible.
- Wait 24 hours after adding water before you add plants.
Waterlilies
- Waterlilies can be grown in ponds for the summer. Tropical types do not do well, as they cannot tolerate our cool nights. Hardy ones may be treated as annuals or kept over the winter indoors.
- Waterlilies must be grown in a sunny spot and prefer still water, so should not be near the pump, bubbler, spray, etc.
- Plant in heavy clay soil, and cover the surface with sharp sand or peagravel.
- When planting, do not cover the crown of the plant with soil.
- There is no need for drainage holes in the pot. It is already under water. Special baskets are available, but you can use plastic kitchenware, or burlap lined wire baskets.
- Special fertilizer tablets are available to put into the bottom of the container before planting. They are heavy fertilizer users.
Oxygenators
- Oxygenators are the pond's filter system. They use nitrogen before the algae can use it, and add oxygen needed by fish
- They can be potted, or floating with their roots and stems submerged and flowers above water.
Marginal Bog Plants
- Plants at the edge of a pond should look natural, as if they grew there.
- The area around a pond is not usually wet, as a natural bog would be. A trough of PVC around the pond edge with no drainage containing humusy soil, can be used but it must be consistently damp and must be checked regularly.
- It is easier to use plants that tolerate drier soil that mimic typical bog plants. Ornamental grasses, irises, look very attractive around ponds, and need good drainage.
Oxygenators help filter the water and utilize nutrients that algae otherwise use, so their utilization cuts down on algae formation. They float on the water surface. Floating plants and potted plants with floating leaves such as water lilies, cover a portion of the water surface, so also cut down on algae production by eliminating sunlight on the water. They also are very attractive additions to the pond. Marginal plants, in pots on shelves or upturned pots in the pool at the edges, grow in soil, and add a natural appearance to the pond. Plants can mimic what would normally grow in a bog around a natural pond. The area surrounding an artificial pond is usually dry, so bog plants not do well.