Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Tuesday - June 13, 2006
From: Garland, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Water Gardens
Title: Native plants for water garden in Garland, TX
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
Hello, I was interested in creating a water garden-koi pond in the landscaping and was interested to know what plants you would suggest for this usage that would be perennial? Furthermore I was interested in using bog & marginals, submerged, and floating plants that would not have invasive tendencies but still be visually interesting and possibly flower. Thank you for your time.ANSWER:
The Wildflower Center has a 2-page PDF article on Water Gardening that you can download from the Native Plant Library. While we will recommend some native plant species that should work well for you, their relative invasiveness will depend both on the pond they're in and on what your perception of invasive is. There is no doubt, though, that some plants will be more aggressive and require more maintenance than others.Some bog/marginals that should work well for you are Hydrolea ovata, Pontederia ovata, Saururus cernuus, Iris brevicaulis and Hymenocallis liriosme.
An excellent submerged plant is Vallisneria americana.
Useful and interesting floating plants are Nymphaea odorata, Utricularia radiata and Marsilea macropoda.
More Water Gardens Questions
Poor drainage in clay soils in Langhorne PA
September 15, 2009 - Our backyard has very poor drainage, to the point of up to 3 inches of rain can sit until it is evaporated. Talking to neighbors, they informed us that there use to be a terrain that ran through our ...
view the full question and answer
Plants for edge of intermittent stream
July 05, 2009 - I have a friend in Washington DC who is having runoff problems. She is having a drycreek installed. What kind of plants are native to her area that will withstand flash flood and intermittent dry co...
view the full question and answer
Plants for wet soil in turtle enclosure in Virginia
September 03, 2010 - We recently installed a turtle pond in our backyard in Arlington, VA. We built an enclosure around the pond to protect the turtle from raccoons and herons, and left some open area for the turtle to g...
view the full question and answer
Plants for wet soils in North Carolina
October 03, 2009 - I'm looking for evergreen plants (shrubs or ground cover)that will tolerate wet conditions for the zone 8 area of North Carolina. The local garden centers here do not stock these types of plants, eve...
view the full question and answer
Plants for edge of a field pond in Missouri
June 03, 2010 - I have a 25ft x 50ft field pond in Versailles, MO. What do you suggest for the water's edge plantings so that we might fish over them. Weed eating is eating ME up!
view the full question and answer
Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |