Deep Water Aquatics For Your Fishpond Water Garden

One of the most satisfying jobs that I have ever had the delight to work on in my garden was setting up a water garden or pond for my own enjoyment. Nothing beats sitting by a pond in the evening having a glass of wine. Just viewing the fish happily swimming around knowing that you have created their environment on their behalf, it provides an amazing feeling of satisfaction.

Aponogeton distachyos is one of one of the very best Deep-water aquatics, it is an easy plant to grow with leaves which can be evergreen and flowers that appear for months on end.

Golden Club (Orontium)

Orontium aquaticum is mostly a trouble free and non-invasive plant with just one fussy requrement, it does will need lots of soil, so be sure to plant it inside of a deep Water Lily basket. It will grow in shallow water, but it reqiures a planting depth of no less than 1ft. if you would like the leaves to float on the water surface instead of standing erect out of the water. The foliage is attractive with blue-green above and silvery below. The greatest feature of this member of the Arum family is the bizarre flower head. This stands above the water like a pure white pencil that has a tip which is coloured gold by a mass of tiny yellow florets. This is one aquatic plant that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.

Water Hawthorn (Aponogenton)

Aponogeton distachyos is amongst one of the most effective Deep-water aquatics, it is a simple plant to grow with leaves which can be evergreen and flowers that appear for months on end. These curious flowers borne on spikes which float at the surface, each flower has waxy white petals and black anthers. The fragrance is strong, variously described as 'vanilla and 'Hawthorn-like'. The oblong leaves tend to be blotched with brown and also the eventual spread is about 2 ft. Unlike a Water Lily it should flourish in partial shade and moving water, but ensure that it’s deep enough for the tubers that they are below the ice in winter.

Pond Lily (Nuphar)

This is certainly a relative from the Water Lily family nonetheless it is not as attractive as it's illustrious cousin. The flowers are small, rather plain and are carried on thick stems above the water. There are actually, however, a couple of distinct advantages, light ans shade is no problem and neither is moving water. For an average sized pond choose 'Nuphar minima' (N. pumila). The yellow flowers are about 1inch across and the under-water foliage is translucent. Unfortunately, the varieties on offer can be the enormous ones like N. lutea (Brandy Bottle) with its 3 inch bottle shaped yellow flowers which smell strongly of alcohol. This is only ideal for a large pond or lake.

Water Fringe (Nymphoides)

There is just one basic species - Nymphoides peltata, commonly often called Floating Heart. Inside the catalogues you might locate it listed as Villarsia bennettii or Limnanthermum nymphoides. The miniature Water Lily-like leaves measure about 2 inches across and are often crinkly edged and blotched or spotted with brown. The 11/2 inch yellow flower is more sort of a Buttercup than a Water Lily, and also the petal edges are fringed. The blooms are borne in small clusters. This can be a useful plant for giving rapid surface cover before Water Lilies become too established, however it could get out of hand.

For my next few articles I’ll be writing about the marginal plants that you might consider placing into a pond. There are actually too many to mention in one article, so I may have to split them into several smaller articles. Happy reading to you all. I would certainly also like to take this chance to thank the 'Garden designer London' company who have given me help and advise during the countless years that I’ve been gardening.