Native Plants

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Thursday - June 03, 2010

From: Versailles, MO
Region: Midwest
Topic: Water Gardens
Title: Plants for edge of a field pond in Missouri
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

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!

ANSWER:

I am supposing you could tolerate plants that are knee high or less, am I right? So, here are some that could work. You are going to have to remove the tall ones that are already there, of course, since they are going to keep on getting high requiring you to apply the weedeater. All of these plants grow well in wet soils and are native to Missouri.

Caltha palustris (yellow marsh marigold) grows 1 to 2 feet high in shade and part shade.

Enemion biternatum (eastern false rue anemone) grows 8 to 16 inches in shade and part shade.

Gentiana andrewsii (closed bottle gentian) grows 1 to 2 feet high in shade and part shade.

Iris brevicaulis (zigzag iris) grows 1 to 2 feet high in shade, part shade and sun.

Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) grows 6 to 14 inches in shade and part shade.

Sisyrinchium angustifolium (narrowleaf blue-eyed grass) grows up to 18 inches in sun and part shade.

Carex amphibola (eastern narrowleaf sedge) grows 8 to 12 inches in shade or part shade. Here is a photo.

Plants that can find plenty of water tend to grow rather tall but you can find more plants that will work at the edge of your pond by doing a COMBINATION SEARCH in our Native Plant Database and selecting Missouri from the Select State or Province option, 'Herb' from Habit (general appearance and 'Wet...' from Soil moisture.

Here photos from our Image Gallery: