Choosing and Caring for Pond Plants
Life and Plants in the Garden Pond
Pond life and Aquatic Plants
With the current popularity in backyard water gardens numerous suppliers of pond life and aquatic plants have entered the business both in gardening centers and online stores. The most frequently used flora and fauna are the water lily and the Koi. These plants and fish are joined in more elaborate landscaping by ferns, marsh grasses, irises, frogs, turtles and migratory birds. The migratory birds just drop in whenever they see a pond!
Other wildlife and native plants will eventually gravitate to the well managed backyard ecosystem. Although these may not always be desirable they often are. There is the rather distressing factor that the fish and frogs that the homeowner carefully selected and stocked in the new backyard pond will just make a quick meal or plaything for a farrell cat. But the opposite scenario is also true: the plants that were chosen as marginals to provide a tall backdrop will sometimes attract golden finches, hummingbirds and song birds to entertain for free.
That’s part of the philosophy of gardening: the importance of finding balance and harmony with nature. Of course it leads to one of the problems of water gardening. There’s a lot of things living and dying that produce waste which never was as much of a problem when the backyard was dedicated to rich thick grass. Netting is sold to keep cats from attacking Koi. It can also keep leaves from nearby trees up out of the water for easier removal. It may trap ducks if these are frequent visitors and may be a problem in larger ponds.
Plants for the backyard pond are rated by the USDA in their appropriate hardiness zones in the same way that other crops and flowers are. Many of the marginals, those that only have their roots in or near water; range from about zone 4 through 11. This basically means that they can survive in below zero bouts and tolerate a very hot summer in most of the United States. These may be chosen to add height and hence a feel of privacy or for the colorful reflection of their blooms in the surface of the water.
Surface plants like the many colorful varieties of water lily are more than just reflected. They range from very pale yellow or salmon to extremely vibrant oranges and reds. Suppliers usually charge about $20 to $25 for starts and these tend to propagate very quickly. It may be possible to trade some of the overgrowth in a few seasons to other water gardeners in exchange for some of their varieties.
The submersible plants serve an important role in oxygenating the water as a byproduct of their photosynthesis. These are very similar to plants used in fish aquariums.
Even though Koi and other types of fish chosen for ponds were developed from carp which flourish in the wild they must be coddled in captivity. Find the specific needs of the types chosen and provide them with pH levels and temperatures which keep them healthy.