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vieja_gw

water lilies, lotus, etc. ... how can I tell?

vieja_gw
13 years ago

I am a novice with pond plants & am confused about different names ... I need help! I know have water lilies (!) in the pond that have over wintered for several years but was wondering the difference between them and lotus, water hyacinth? Does the hyacinth have those 'bulbous'parts of the stem... I think I have that, & water lettuce (floating small,flat cluster of leaves w/roots underneath ?) I believe, but neither is winter hardy in my zone 7 & need to be taken out in the Fall & kept indoors? I remember in Iowa it was against the law to plant some kind of 'lily'-like plant as it clogged up the waters in the Mississippi River there & they tried to pull it out & kill it. And believe it or not I can not get duckweed (the teeny floating kind) to survive long in the pond ... I know the fish eat what is accessable to them but I also put some in a separate container of water & I can't get it to multiply ( yet it is illegal to sell it here for fear of it getting into the rivers & streams/ a weed as it is so invasive!)

I also was given a bucket full of LONG green soft fluffy 'ropes' that have very tiny soft fluffy green leaves & the rope hangs/floats on top & just below the surface- kinda like parrot's feather... could it be that? I have a 30 gal. garbage can of water full of this & wonder how to care for it come winter or can it sink to the bottom & survive?

Thanks for any info./help with this newcomer to pond plants! Something is going well though as somehow for the past three years I have clear pond water ... only occasional string algae & green pond sides but no green algae bloom! Have a Skippy filter with loads of scrubbing pads in it & mint growing in it, also dump some peroxide (16 oz.) in the pond (250 gal. preform) where the water comes out of the Skippy if the water even shows a bit less clarity than usual ... don't laugh at me, but I read about the peroxide somewhere & it seems to help!

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