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The Dirt On Water Gardens Choose a variety of aquatic plants to create a well balanced water feature for your garden. From "The Dirt On..." episode DTDO-102

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	Figure D
	Figure E

Selecting Aquatic Plants

There are three basic categories of aquatic plants that you may choose for your water garden:

• Submerged plants
  
• Free-floating plants
  
• Floating-leaf plants

The first type you might choose are the submerged plants. As the name implies, these live with the entire plant body — roots, stem and foliage — completely under water. These are particularly important to aquatic systems because they are heavy oxygenators, meaning they release oxygen into the water. This is beneficial for your other plants as well as fish if you choose to include them in your water garden. They also remove excess nutrients in the water, which in turn reduces excessive algae growth. Some examples from the submerged plant category include:

• Washington grass
  
• Anacharis (figure D)
  
• wild celery
  
• dwarf Sagittaria

Important: These aquatic plants are aggressive spreaders. If you want to restrict their growth, plant them in a smaller container and put this at the bottom of the water garden.

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Figure F

The next type of aquatic plants are called free floaters. They float along the surface of the water with their roots dangling below them (figure F). This type gets their nutrients from the water. Examples from this category include:

• water fern
  
• frogbit
  
• water lettuce
  
• butterfly fern

Important: Avoid covering the whole surface with floating plants since the submerged plants below need sunlight too. Floating plants can be vigorous spreaders, even becoming invasive pest-plants if allowed to grow unchecked, so you'll need to thin them out periodically.

DIY Eco-Alert: If you plant invasive varieties in your own water garden, make sure never to let them get into or near natural streams, rivers or other waterways — or even storm drains, drainage ditches or sewers — because they can cause serious environmental problems as they rapidly spread.

	Figure G
	Figure H

The last type of aquatic plants are floating leaf plants. These plants are rooted under water but their leaves float on the water's surface (figure G). The most popular of these plants is the water lily. They come in many different shapes, from fluffy to spiky. Hardy lilies are frost tolerant, but tropical lilies are "'frost tender" so be sure to get a suitable variety for your area.

Plant floating-leaf specimens in a plastic container with holes throughout, similar to the containers you buy strawberries in. You can find these baskets where you buy aquatic plants. Line it with burlap (figure H) and fill it with a heavy soil and plant your lily. Fold the burlap over and top with gravel.

If you can put the container at the bottom of your pond with the leaves reaching the surface you can just drop it in. If your pond is too deep, place some bricks below it until it reaches the right height. As the plant grows, you can remove the bricks.

Now that you know what you're looking for and how to plant it, you're ready to go out and start your own pond. Remember, when you're at the nursery you still need to look for the same attributes in aquatic plants that you would with any plant:

• Seek out healthy looking plants, which means no insect damage and firm roots.
  
• Make sure to buy plants that will survive in your climate.
  
• Check the tags to make sure the plants will match your pond's exposure. Most aquatics like full sun, but some will tolerate some shade.

Keep adding on to your pond too, maybe a waterfall or some fish. Then, just enjoy it. They're pretty low-maintenance and the best part is — these plants don't need watering!

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