Plants are used in the pond performed both as an ornamental and an ecological functions in a water garden. When I am ready to start choosing the plants for my water plants, I also need to keep the ecological function of each plants that I choose some of the plants needs to include oxygenates, which are ones that help starve out algae and it contribute to a balanced environment. Another type of plants that needs to be in a pond that cover the water surface to create shade, which will discourages algae growth and this will give the fish that is in the pond some relief from the hot sun. Between one-half to two-thirds of the water surface in the pond needs to be cover with plants. Water lilies will not cover the surface area to shade the pond. That is why many people like to use floating plants to give more coverage until the water lilies have time to established. Floater plants float on the surface and they draw their nutrients from the water, they do not grow in soil at all. Frogbit which looks like tiny water lilies is a floaters . There may be a need to thin out the more-prolific spreading floaters, definitely when the water lilies and the deep-water aquatic plants come into their own.
The final category of plants for a pool or pond garden is marginal plants. They need to be submerged in shallow water so their roots are permanently underwater while their flowers and leaves emerge above the surface. These plants needs to be put in shallow water, so they need to be place on the underwater shelf around the edge of the pond. A good way to do this is to grow these plants in baskets or pots, because this way they can be divided and re potted the plants easily. Always avoid mixing different varieties in a single container. A couple of marginal plants are pickerel weed and water iris.
For every square yard of the pond, this is a formula that anybody can go by to have an ecologically balanced pond environment. They will need twelve water snails, two fish, one water lily, two oxygenating plants and one log plant. The water snails will glide along the pond surfaces and they eat plant material and algae. The two fishes help the water garden environmental by eating pests, which are flies, aphids, and mosquito larvae.
The water lily promotes pond health by caving the surface of the pond. It provides shade for the fish, prevents oxygen loss and evaporation. The bog plant will keep the pond clean and it takes care of algae because they consume the excess nitrogen and phosphates of the pond.
There are two different types of water lilies and they are either hardy and tropical. Hardy lily will grow in zones 3 to 11. The lily will bloom as long as the water temperature is above 60 degree F and the air stays above 70 degree F. In areas of the country that has cold winters, the water lily will bloom from late May into September. If the daytime temperatures stays around 70 degrees F even in the winter, the lily will bloom nearly year-around. In areas where it freezes the water lily will died down in winter and come back up in the spring.
Hardy water lilies bloom only in the daylight hours, which are from 9:00 A. M. to 3:oo P.M. and 5:00 p.m.
Tropical water lilies are frost tender in zone 10- 11, they grow like perennials and they bloom all year. In colder climates they are grown as annuals and then they are replanted when spring comes or they are dug up and brought in out of the freezing cold. The tropical lilies will start blooming after they have two to three weeks of 80 degrees F temperature. They do not do good in the Pacific northwest and other parts of the country has cool summer.
There are two types of tropical water lilies and they are day bloomers open their flowers in the morning and close in the mid-to-late afternoon. Night bloomers open after sunset and stays open until late morning or early afternoon the next days. Both kinds of tropical water lilies are fr agent. So I will plant both kinds so I can have blooms to enjoy twenty-four hours a day.
Water lotuses are able to overwinter in a climate as cold as zone 4, but they need to have some warm days before they will bloom. Lotuses are usually large plants with some like 'Alba Grandifora, will produce six to eight inch blossoms on stems 4 to 5 feet above the water surface. Mrs. Perry D. Slocum has leaves that are eighteen inches across. Charles Thomas has fragrant lavender-pink flowers on stems that stand 3 to 4 feet above the water. Do not plant lotus plants directly in an earth-bottom pond, but plant them in pots and in ponds with liners. This is done because lotus are aggressive growers.
For my garden pond, I am going to get a variety of different plants, for it along with my fish, snails, and so on.
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