Water Garden Plants

What is a water garden plant? It is a plant whose roots grow in wet soil, with foliage that floats on water or stands upright above the water. These plants are suited to any pond, water garden, or shallow water area where the soil remains wet. When specific water depths are listed for growing water garden plants, they refer to the distance from the top of the plant container to the top of the water line. This distance varies from plant to plant and should be considered when placing water garden plants in pond arrangements. Use rocks and bricks to raise the height of the plant container in the water to the appropriate level.

While some water garden plants (Iris, Floating Heart) have large, brilliant blossoms, others (Water Clover, Parrot's Feather) have unnoticeable or no blossoms at all. Some trailing, non-blossoming plants, like Parrot's Feather are used in water gardens solely for accent. Upright water garden plants can serve as screens and vertical accents against smaller plants and walls.

Most water garden plants require full sun to partial shade; however, Water Clover, Floating Heart, and Water Hawthorn require less light and are ideal for moderately shaded ponds. The size of most water garden plants may be controlled by the size of container used to plant them in the water. Use smaller containers for as long as possible and trim invasive trailing plants if size is of concern. Water garden plants may need to be divided over time. Fertilize at the beginning of the blossom period or once per season for non-bloomers. Place fertilizer tablets directly into the soil of the container.

Hardy water garden plants are all cold tolerant and will thrive in winter as long as they are lowered at least 18" below the water surface. As with all hardy water plants, the only danger of freezing roots comes in shallow water (less than 18" deep) or deep water that has frozen solid. Tropical water garden plants will not survive winter conditions and are therefore treated as annuals by most gardeners. A pond in a warm, greenhouse environment with full sun is necessary to keep tropical plants through the winter.

A chart follows of the hardy and tropical water garden plants that Merrifield Garden Center carries on a regular basis. If you are looking for a specific plant that is not listed here, please feel free to ask one of our professional staff members about placing a special order.

Click Here For the Chart