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The pond is in and the
bridge is up. So now what...you know what! You know
you gotta landscape!
 Ponds without pond landscaping -- well
--that's just wrong.
So, how does your glam water garden grow? Don't
know yet?
No worries -- just use the Guide to
Landscape Ponds.
It's here to show you pond plants,
to give you planting tips, and to help you with pond
algae control.
So let's jump in, and move your pond from fair to
fiercely fabulous!
And when your love
of water gardens
grows bigger than the size of your pond, there's always pond landscaping, garden pond
kits, pond
waterfalls, and
preformed pond liners
for pond 2.0!
Landscape Ponds with Native Plants
 There are definitely advantages to using native
plants:
-
Requires no
fertilizer
-
No fertilizer means you
save money and you save
time
-
Native plants come in
more colors and have longer flowering
seasons
-
Lots of native plants to choose from
-
Tolerate weather in small garden ponds, so no
overwintering required
-
No need to replace plants every year
-
And drum roll
please, your pond is environmentally beneficial au-natural
Not only does fertilizer cost
money, it also encourages algae to bloom.
Algae robs
your pond of
the oxygen your pond plants need to live.
Even
without
a fertilizer
boost, you'll need pond algae control.
So why
not let
your pond plants to do their part.
Just make sure
they cover
50%-70% of
your pond's water surface. It's that easy!
Which bring us to just what kinds of
plants you should be looking for.
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Landscape Ponds Plant Types
The most dramatic and healthiest ponds have 3
flavors of plants:
Emergent
plants are your marginals. They live around
the edges of your pond -- hence the
term: marginal.
Their roots live in the water, and their shoots
live in the air. Good examples are water lilies, arrowhead,
and cattails.
Submergent
plants like Elodea. A.k.a., Waterweed loves living
almost entirely under water. And it has these tiny white flowers
that peek out at you from
the surface.
They're beneficial, too. They keep your
pond water nice and clear by adding oxygen while removing
carbon dioxide.
Anacharis is another good plant in this category. It competes with
algae for food and usually wins.
Floating-leafed
water plants love to
float free and unanchored on the water's surface.
Examples are duckweed, water lettuce and the fabulously
fragrant, water hyacinth.
Both water lettuce and water hyacinth spread pretty quickly, so you only
need a few to get lots of bang for your buck.
Floating-leafed pond plants are great,
because they block the sun that algae needs to thrive. So they're
perfect for getting that 50%-70% of water surface water
covered quickly. And these you won't even have to plant.
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page
Landscape Ponds Planting Tips
With emergent or submergent plants to landscape ponds, just use
plastic baskets you've lined with burlap or newspaper. Or
use pulp planters if you prefer.
Grab some topsoil and fill your basket just about
half full.
Position the plant on top, then anchor it with more topsoil leaving an inch or so between
the soil and the top of the basket.
Add a layer
of gravel to keep the soil in place.
Water lily rhizomes are emergent divas so, handle them like
you know.
Mound your topsoil in the basket and position the
diva at a 45-degree angle with the crown towards the center of
the basket.
Only cover the
roots with dirt, but leave the crown exposed and add a layer
of gravel.
Then slowly lower your planted baskets into the pond.
And remember, you can just drop floating-leafed pond plants onto the pond
surface. No muss,
no
fuss!
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