Water lily and Other Pond Plant Questions

Where I live the temperature can get around 100oF... What hardy plant species can live in this type of weather to provide shade in the pond? I do want to lower the temperature of the water to a maximum of 80 - 85oF.

Plants I was looking at:

Taro - Elephant ear
Water lilies
Azolla
Horsetail Rush/Reed
Papyrus
Canna lilies
Water Iris species
Floating sensitive plant

I didn't have enough time to figure out the zones for the plants, but I will get to work on that tomorrow. If you have any info on other plants please let me know!

Also any idea on how to germinate water lily seeds? I looked it up, but every website shows a different way of doing it (the water lily and lotus mix up doesn't help). I was hoping one of you may have experiences germinating them. Thanks!!

 

From what I remember reading a while back, as well as from a friend regarding germination, its helps fo scarify the seeds, basically like taking a tiny metal file or gently serrated knife, and scoring them basically to make it easier for water to penetrate the outer shell, as well as making it easier for the sprouts to break out of the hull of the seed.

 

Water hyacinth.. Grows like a weed, roots provide tons of cover for fish. Many consider it the world's worst aquatic plant because it multiplies so fast and fills waterways. Personally I like it because it has nice flowers and the roots are great for fry to hide. It is illegal in some places.

 

@steakfl I plan on buying lots of waterlily seeds, so I may try many methods of germination. I will defiantly try your friend's method since I've heard of several species that do better when you scarify the seeds.


@ Water hyacinth sadly is illegal in my state. I would absolutely love some since they're so pretty. I actually want a plant to cover the water surface, so the water temperature goes down (which is why I would love some water hyacinth).

 

That's too bad. How about water lettuce?

 

Also illegal in my state... I can't really have the super fast growing plants in my pond, but I would love a pond that takes just 2 weeks to be fully planted. I do want some azolla though! I don't plan on putting in a pump since I'm going for surface plants (submerged plants also) and they don't like surface disruption.

 

Frogbit, duckweed, and similar are both ones known to take over and cover surfaces of the pond. I have also heard of people tossing in a bunch of floating hornwort and Anacharis since both are known to be cheap, easy to obtain and decent to fast growing plants. This makes them a good temporary cover until more expensive/slower to grow plants like the lilies can really get established and grow large enough to provide some decent shade. Once you get to that point, you can always remove the Anacharis or hornwort.

While I don't have it myself currently due to space constraints, one I would love to get in the future is "Mosaic Plant" and can get pretty sizable so should provide some good cover once it also settles in.

 

I actually have hornwort and guppy grass in there, as well as flame moss and subwassertang. Although the moss and subwassertang isn't doing well. I plan on buying swamp milkweed seeds, arrowhead plantlets and lotus seeds (they're a risk, but I'll buy another kind also). I do have experiences germinating milkweed seeds and the arrowheads are plantlets. The lotus seeds will be iffy, as to how well they'll grow. None of the plants will go outside right now, unless I have extras. I plan on stocking the container pond in the spring of next year, so I'll have plenty of time to grow the plants out.

Just got time to google the mosaic plant and it's amazing looking! I'm definitely going to try and get one of those for my next container pond! Thanks!

 

Yellow flag iris is a great bog plant for filtration. Lotus plants are a little harder to keep, but lilies are almost the same and much easier. The rose lotus is a beautiful plant, the flower is for about 24 hours only though, but the scent if you catch it will blow your mind. Buddha said that when the universe was created, the first flower to bring life was the pink lotus. Blue and white are also very very special. Blue is for deep meditation, white is for spirituality. Again lotus flowers are short-lived but worth it in my opinion. Soak the seed, lightly score it as mentioned and wait till it sprouts then plant it in porous media, add some root tabs to give it a good start and then one tab per month thereafter till established if planting in containers. If planting direct in pond substrate then once established once every 3 months for root tabs.

 

Thanks for the info on lotus seeds!

Ended up getting swamp milkweed, blue water lily seeds (waiting for a better deal on the lotus) and yellow flag iris seeds. I'm still having problems finding an actual lotus and not a water lily, so I'll probably just get a plant or bulb when I get one.

I found this awesome idea on the internet, but modified it to my situation. So I plan on using a netted pot and attaching a pool noodle around the rI'm and hopefully it'll float around in my pond!

What type of substrate would be best? I was thinking aquaponic clay beads, but an aquarium plant substrate would be my second choice. What do you guys think?

 

Clay beads first layer as that would give good bacteria growth which helps in the overall filtration process, and if you want, small river gravel over top or other substrate. Here's a link true lotus seeds

 

Thanks for the link! That website is awesome! Love the sundews! I actually have a lot of small gravel, will that stuff work?

 

Thanks for the link! That website is awesome! Love the sundews! I actually have a lot of small gravel, will that stuff work?

Sure will. If potted plants, simply surround the pot (remove the container) with media. Stick a root tab and if need be, once a month till growth starts or as needed.

 

Thanks! I will be buying some hydro clay this week, so I can plant as soon as possible. This year I don't think I'm going to let anything stay outside since it's already so late in the year. Can't wait for spring!