Water in the Garden
September 12, 2008 – 8:15 amGardening Gone Wild has invited bloggers to showcase water in their gardens. I’ve always had a water garden on the balcony, often including a school of pond comets. Container ponds are pretty easy to set up. They attract birds, bees and wasps and are a refreshing change from potted plants. I’ve had the good fortune to find four beautiful stone containers that I’ve used for the last couple of years, but have also had great success planting a pond in a glazed ceramic pot.
Floating fern (salvinia natans), water hyacinths (eichornia crassipes), water grass (hygroryza aristata) and water clover (marsilea mutica) are the plants of choice this year in the ponds. The floating ferns are easy to grow, spread quickly, provide shade and prevent algae by using nutrients from the water. The water grass is a new discovery. Seems to be a slow grower, but looks pretty cool. The water clover (below) is tough and has grown into a strong, healthy plant that continues to be happy even with the heavy winds and cooler nights that we have been having lately – it might get to come to the office over the winter.
The water volume is relatively small and the water level in each pond goes down about an inch each week because it is so dry here. But topping up the water gives me the chance to check out the plants regularly, do a little clean up as needed and thin out the growth. No pumps, no mosquitoes and no problems this year.
[...] Water in the Garden (Balcony Gardener): BG proves that you don’t need a big space to enjoy a wide variety of water-garden plants. While you’re there, also check out the series of photos and water-plant portraits starting here. [...]