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.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

Not Yet Rated

Thursday - June 11, 2015

From: Troy, IL
Region: Midwest
Topic: Plant Lists, Water Gardens, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Aquatic Plants for a Small Pond in Missouri
Answered by: Anne Van Nest

QUESTION:

We have a small backyard pond (4' x 5' x 2' deep) with a shelf for marginal plants, and a pump that feeds a nice little creek and waterfall into the pond. We don't really want fish, but we'd like to keep the water clean of algae and looking awesome. Can you recommend some plants native to the St. Louis, MO area for such a small backyard pond? Everything I've found online seems to be for larger ponds, or ponds with fish, or includes invasive plants.

ANSWER:

Try a search through the Native Plant Database on the www.wildflower.org website. Select Missouri, herbaceous, perennial, full sun and wet to get a decent list of terrestrial, marshy, bog and pond plants to review. You can tame some of the more vigorous plants by keeping them in a container on your pond shelf.

Some native aquatic plants to consider include:

Alisma subcordatum (American water plantain)
Asclepias perennis (Aquatic milkweed)

Caltha palustris (Yellow marsh marigold)

Decodon verticillatus (Swamp loosestrife)

Justicia americana (American water-willow)

Ludwigia palustris (Marsh seedbox)

Potamogeton nodosus (Knotty pondweed)

Sagittaria latifolia (Broadleaf arrowhead)

Utricularia gibba (Bladderwort)

Lastly the Missouri Department of Conservation have an article on Water Gardening online by John Whitley that discusses using native plants. There might be some cultural tips there that will help.