Native pond plants.

[pipsqueek9]

hello,

I have just joined this site as i was looking for information on native pond plnts and found this blog very useful.

I have just dug pond that is about 5m by 4m and is 50cm in dept and i was jsut wondering if anyone can give me some good native plants, that do a varity of things in the pond and most importantly attract wildlife and dont take over the whole pond. Also the number of differnet plants needed for the size of my pond.

thanks!!

[joey747]

[quote=kaitkaitkait;517846]Well, I haven't posted a pic in ages so I thought I'd add my wildlife pond as it is now.



In it, we have:
1 white waterlily (albatross)
1 small red waterlily (pygmaea rubra)
Pickerel

all of which are not native... but we also have:

Yellow flag irises
Various native grasses and reeds including cotton grass and common rush
Flowering rush
Brooklime (veronica beccabunga)
bog bean
frogbit
lesser and greater spearwort (both of which are VERY prolific lol)
marsh marigolds (the single yellow type)
water soldiers
and tons and TONS of hornwort (I think I have managed to hoik out most of the fast-growing canadian pondweed but I leave a bit in as the newts like to use it to lay eggs on)

We have common toads, common frogs AND palmate newts all using and spawning in the same pond, pond snails both ramshorn and the greater ones, a profusion of bugs and wormy things galore, and also an awful lot of emerging dragonflies and damselflies which are an absolute joy to watch.

I'm so pleased I dug this pond. it's 2 metres by 3 and ]

[joey747]

how come mud doesnt run into the pond and murk it up? im designing a nature pond but im not sure how to edge it because i want a steady sloping side with bog plants in it just like the picture but i dont know how to stop mud running in from the lawn and murking up the pond

[kaitkaitkait]

Originally Posted by joey747

how come mud doesnt run into the pond and murk it up? im designing a nature pond but im not sure how to edge it because i want a steady sloping side with bog plants in it just like the picture but i dont know how to stop mud running in from the lawn and murking up the pond

I don't have a problem with mud in this pond from the lawn or edges because it's slightly raised upwards from the lawn - all around the edge apart from the beach area, are hummocks of turf that I laid down to cover the pond liner's edge. This wasn't in the plan I intended it to be completely flat but I didn't figure in that the turf would be so thick.

Anyway as a result the turf edge travels up from the lawn before coming to a halt at its edge and gravity does the rest! The only place where there isn't a hummock is the beach edge which comes down directly from an area which has gravel and logpiles and my garden bench/arbour thing (where the previous photo was taken from). Result, wildlife can get in and out easily and the overhanging turf as it's matured provides lots of shade round the edge. I planted marginals on shelves I dug in to the overall shape of the pond, and bog plants in any damp places on the turf. But I do also have a separate bog garden a few feet away from the pond,since I like the look of the native bog plants so much!

Hope that explains it a bit better. and good luck with your pond!

[joey747]

cheers, a pic of your bog garden would be cool plz

[kaitkaitkait]

Joey, I'll see if I can dig one out - changed PCs recently and current photos won't charm you as it is NOT looking its best at this time of year!

[animartco]

Hi Kaitkaitkait,
That's an odd name. Is it Maori? Or Aboriginal? Anyway, Shearno has given a huge long list of plants! And I believe some waterlilies are native. Or introduced a pretty long time ago anyway. You do have to fit the type of lily to the size and depth of the pond. You can get some very small ones at aquatic centres. You will also need an oxygenator that lives in the bottom of the pond. They keep changing the names of these, and I haven't looked in a current catalogue for a while, but the best one is the roll leaf canadian pondweed,- lagarasiphon it used to be called. There is also a very beautiful fluted brown aponogeton, usually found in aquaria, but it does live outside as well, and may be a native. You can also get a double kingcup for margins which is beautiful, and doesn't spread that much, though usually in a small pond it is better to have something that hangs over from the soil around, rather than placed in the pond as marginals do tend to run riot.
Warning- do not let anyone give you parrots feather!
Cheers animartco

[dampflippers]

I don't know whether you heard on the news this morning, but there is a new initiative by the government on non native pond plants.
They are highlighting how fast they grow, and what damage they can cause if they "escape" into natural waterways and ponds.
Please everyone, read about it here:
Be Plant Wise : Directgov
They advise you never to dispose of them in the wild, and to compost them if you thin out your own pond so they are not spread.
Also if they are in your pond, never dispose of water pumped out of your pond into the drainage system as some species can grow from a tiny fragment which will grow in the sewage tratment works and can spread from there.

Sermon over...read the article!
They also tell you never to give away non native pond plants.

ps they don't say you "have to" remove existing plants from your own garden pond, just beware they don't "escape".

[animartco]

Hi dampflippers (not wet blanket?) only joking. Of course all this non native thing has been blown out of all proportion. It could only sensibly apply to brand new introductions. Most of our garden plants are non native and only a tiny proportion of these have become a problem. If they keep banning things we'll have nothing to put in the garden!
Also it is untrue that only native plants are beneficial to wildlife. Even caterpillars can easily adjust to non native species. I'm going to try to upload a photo here, Wish me luck! Oh have to do it seperately

[dampflippers]

From personal experience, Azolla/fairy moss and swamp stonecrop/Crassula can cause real problems.
I got one piece of azolla on another plant from a garden centre, and thought "that looks pretty". Didn't think any more about it iuntil got back from summer holiday to find the whole garden pond was completely covered a couple of CM thick!. It just went bananas!. I had to continually scoop it out daily and eventually got it under control, but it is still present.
So in a garden you can keep it under control, but in the wild it would completely blanket, and then out compete by causing darkness all other oxygentaing plants.

Similarly, in my area Crassula is a big problem in wild ponds, and several are completely covered and it is growing out onto the banks.