Water plants for your pond and fountain

Adding pond plants will make your water feature more attractive and help keep the water cleaner. Here are some tips for choosing water plants for your pond or fountain. There are four categories of water plants: Oxygenating Plants, Floating Plants, Deep Water Plants and Marginal Plants. Oxygenating pond plants grow directly in the water and help introduce oxygen into the pond. A high level of oxygen is helpful for keeping algae under control. Oxygenators feed on decaying organic material like fish waste or leaves.

Mare’s tail and Red Stemmed Parrot’s Tail are common oxygenators.

Floating pond plants are important because they shade the pond water. Shade helps keep the water temperature down and helps inhibit algae growth. Floating water plants include Water Lettuce and Water Hyacinths.

Deep water plants are placed at the bottom of your pond. The most common type of deep water plants are water lilies.

Marginal water plants are placed in shallow water in or around the pond.

Some common marginal’s include taro, iris, cannas,

Red Stem Lizard’s Tail.

Generally, these plants can be taken home and placed directly in the pond without transplanting into larger pots.

To do their best, pick a site by the pond that has the most sunlight. As a rule, water plants do not need to be fed. While most of these water plants are tropical and won’t survive our winters, some water plants are rated Zone 4 and below. These have a better chance at surviving our winters here.