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atokadawn

Do any of you,

atokadawn
12 years ago

mix water plants into your regular flower beds?

My wonderful son has been helping me sink buckets,and barrels into the ground among my regular flowers. I have cat tails, purple pickerel, and several other water plants in all the beds. I simply love the looks friends give me. They fit so nicely.

Comments (9)

  • catherinet
    12 years ago

    Hmmmm.....that's a great idea!

  • annedickinson
    12 years ago

    I agree. That's a great idea.

    I have a friend who bought a house last year and I was delighted to discover little "ponds" throughout the yard and garden. I don't know if they were placed there for frogs or maybe as you suggested, for water plants.

    I can see how beautiful some water hyacinth would be in blossom in a garden. And I adore cattails and have tried to figure out how to incorporate them in my pond.

    Maybe I need to think "outside the pond" and plant them as you suggest.

    Thanks,
    Anne

    Anne

  • ponderpaul
    12 years ago

    Too many places for mosquitoes to breed as is, so I go the other way around. Numerous "land" plants will grow in pots in a shallow stream � day lily, mums, African daisies, taros, even tomatoes if they get plenty of sun. I have chives growing directly in one of my waterfalls. Experiment and see what happens!
    Put your cattails in an appropriate sized container and place them in your stream or shallow area of your pond.

  • jalal
    12 years ago

    I'm building a rain garden in my front yard this fall to catch the sump pump and gutter water. I would consider the yellow flag iris but it's invasive if not contained and the rain garden won't be full of water all the time anyways or maybe if we have another spring/summer/fall? (I say that as our summer has been like fall not a day above 75F and already night temps dropping to 45F) the rain garden will have water in it all the time as my two sump pumps are running every day.

  • terrestrial_man
    12 years ago

    A couple of years ago I planted a cheap preform I got at the local OSH into my front yard where I have large boulders. It is rather small
    like the one imaged here
    {{gwi:226546}}

    poured in sieved river sand about 6 inches deep.
    planted Sagittaria subulata
    see plant

    added a few branches for birds. then added fish
    {{gwi:226547}}

    They have done quite well. Planted some Pickerel plant on one side and have introduced water hyacinths and Parrots Feather to it. I weed out the hyacinths and parrots feather to try and keep the surface clear on one end of the pool. Just hose it down at least once in the AM to refill as water is lost through evaporation and perhaps a small leak. No mosquito larvae has been seen yet.

  • atokadawn
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    mosquitoes are not a problem, as I get the cheap feeder fish (small guppy size) to toss into anything above a bait bucket size.
    Once I get the new front flower bed done,I will post pictures.

    I just am addicted to water plants! They add so much color and fun to a garden.Why keep them all in one spot?

  • koidog10
    12 years ago

    Wow that is a great idea
    Maybe next year :)

  • adriennemb2
    12 years ago

    I love the idea of surprise pocket ponds in the garden but fear that, if the mosquitoes don't get me, an ankle injury would. Safer for me to stick with the big pond and lots of water fountains instead, thank you. I do however reference some pond plants in the perennial beds and vice-versa.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Bloody dock

  • timbersmith
    12 years ago

    I've thought about doing something like this with some of my excess plants, but making a bog instead of a mini-pond. One of the pond books I have shows how to make a bog/rain garden area by laying down some pond liner and then punching a line of holes in it with a pitchfork about half-way down. I would think that something like sweet flag, elephant ear, or hibiscus would take well to those conditions since the soil should retain a fair amount of water.