Native pond plants.

[kaitkaitkait]

I have a medium sized (3m by 2m) pond which I'm pondering buying new plants for. It currently houses toadpoles by the hundreds, frogs, frog tadpoles and last year I spotted a couple of Palmate Newts!

This year the filamentous algae is out in full force. And as opposed to last year, it's a brighter green and slimy, so is more difficult to "twizzle" out with a bamboo cane. I'm leaving it anyway, so that the tadpoles etc can munch on it, but wonder if a few floating plants would be a good option?

1) I have a water lily, which I know isn't native, but it seems fairly stable and cuts out surface light. If I get any more floating plants I'd like them to be native to the UK (not so fussed about being postcode specific here - should I be?).

2) Frogbit has been suggested, as has pennywort. But I hear it's hard to get native marsh pennywort in water plant stores, instead they're selling the invasive US cousin. Is there any way of accurately telling the difference, and if I get the native version will it float anyway?

3) I am not too keen on the idea of duckweed, as I hear it's very invasive and since I've managed to keep it clear from that, picking off the leaves stuck to the side of marginal pots from garden centres, etc, I'd like to keep it that way!

Has anyone a shortlist of good floating plants that are native to the UK? And better still, a good supplier who delivers as I don't own a car and live in the middle of nowhere!

[Kayleigh]

DON,T PUT THIS IN YOUR POND.

I wish some had told me this. It is a nightmare. I cant get rid of it. I have the floating pennywort but all of it looks invasive. They have stems that produce a root system that creeps along before you know it its everywhere.

Google Image Result for http://www.waterwereld.nu/images/waternavel2.JPG

[Gill Catton]

Hornwort is a good one, its really good at out competing algae and is easily hoiked out when its growth becomes too vigorous.

I took a strip of this from a pond I was surveying in - only about 20cm long for my fish tank at home. I left it overnight in a pot of tap water to kill off any nasty bacteria that might harm my fish - but overnight out of this one section came (alive) tiny damselfly larvae, mayfly larvae and at least four greater water-boatman nymphs from one tiny piece which brought home to me just how valuable native weeds can be!

Its brilliant stuff because it help keep my fish tank free of algae and I just periodically pull a load of it out and it just regrows - using up nutriants that would otherwise fuel the algae or affect the water chemistry.


I'm not sure where you'd buy it from, you could try a google search perhaps?

[Shearno]

I ordered my native plants from here online

British Native Plants - Mimmack Aquatics

and were healthy plants delivered quickly

Shearno

[Adam Cheeseman]

For God's sake, don't buy Crassula helmsii - aka Australian Swamp Stonecrop or New Zealand Pygmyweed.

Cheers,

Adam

[kaitkaitkait]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

For God's sake, don't buy Crassula helmsii - aka Australian Swamp Stonecrop or New Zealand Pygmyweed.

Cheers,

Adam

Ye gods, no. I've heard about that plant.. and some others including water hyacinths. Will keep well away from non native plants, I promise!

Thanks all for the advice. The site with native plants for sale looks good - I shall let you know what I bought! Looking forward to posting pics of a non pea-soup pond.

[kaitkaitkait]

Originally Posted by Gill Catton

Hornwort is a good one, its really good at out competing algae and is easily hoiked out when its growth becomes too vigorous.

I took a strip of this from a pond I was surveying in - only about 20cm long for my fish tank at home. I left it overnight in a pot of tap water to kill off any nasty bacteria that might harm my fish - but overnight out of this one section came (alive) tiny damselfly larvae, mayfly larvae and at least four greater water-boatman nymphs from one tiny piece which brought home to me just how valuable native weeds can be!

Its brilliant stuff because it help keep my fish tank free of algae and I just periodically pull a load of it out and it just regrows - using up nutriants that would otherwise fuel the algae or affect the water chemistry.


I'm not sure where you'd buy it from, you could try a google search perhaps?

Thanks for that! I do have some hornwort but not enough I think - I shall get more! Googling it gave me plenty of eBay links, by the way.

[Tiggrx]

At least 4 of the species listed in their native plants section are not native species...

Originally Posted by Shearno

I ordered my native plants from here online

British Native Plants - Mimmack Aquatics

and were healthy plants delivered quickly

Shearno

[kaitkaitkait]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

At least 4 of the species listed in their native plants section are not native species...

Eek. Good to know. But even *better* would be to know which ones?

[Shearno]

This is a guide i got from English Nature for native plants, the numbers stand for pond size suitability, 1 being a small pond, 2 a medium and 3 a large pond :


Native plants for garden ponds
Submerged plants
Curled pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) 1 Also fennel pondweed (P. pectinatus)
Water starwort (Callitriche stagnalis) 1 Floating rosettes of rounded leaves
Rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) 1 Thickly-tufted plant, vigorous
Water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) 1 Caution! NOT Myriophyllum
aquaticum
Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis)* 1 Partly floating, attractive white
flowers
Floating leaf plants
Broad-leaved pondweed 2 Excellent for habitat
(Potamogeton natans)
Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) 1 Attractive white flowers
Floating sweet-grass (Glyceria fluitans) 2-3 Good habitat; plant at the margin to
float out
Yellow water-lily (Nuphar lutea) 2 ‘Brandy bottle’: smells of alcohol
Fringed water-lily(Nymphoides peltata) 2 Fringed yellow flowers like buttercup
Water soldier (Stratiotes aloides) 2-3 Impressive spiky plant that sinks in
winter
White water-lily (Nymphaea alba) 3 Beautiful, but too vigorous for most
gardens
Shallowwater emergents
Amphibious bistort (Persicaria amphibia) 1 Pink flower stalks, dark green leaves
Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpiodes) 1-2 Small, pale blue flowers
Lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) 1 Less spectacular, less invasive than
spearwort
Spearwort (Ranunculus lingua) 2-3 Giant water buttercup, to 90cm high
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) 1-2 Arrow-head leaves, and small white
flowers
Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) 1 Blue flowers, straggly, good at the
pond edge
Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliate) 2-3 Beautiful, invasive but easy to control

Tall emergents
Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) 1-2 Very pretty pink-flowering rush
Branched bur-reed (Sparganum erectum) 3 Unusual spiky flower, semi evergreen
Water mint (Mentha aquatica) 2-3 Pretty, scented leaves, invasive, good
for bees
Water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) 2 Small pink flowers, up to 1m high
Greater pond-sedge (Carex riparia) 2-3 Makes good invertebrate habitat
Lesser bulrush (Typha angustifolia) 2-3 Not for small ponds
Common reed (Phragmites australis) 3 Fine plant, but too big for most ponds
Marginal and bog plants
Bugle (Ajuga repens) 1 Very pretty, deep blue, good for insects
Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) 1-2 Superb low yellow-flowering plant
Hard rush (Juncus inflexus) 2 Less invasive than soft rush; brown
fruits
Lady’s smock (Cardamine pratensis) 1 Pretty pale purple flowers
Yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus) 2 Superb yellow flowers, red seed
capsules
Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) 1 Pretty, delicate pink flower
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) 2 Great red-purple spikes
Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) 2 Fine yellow-spiked plant
Marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris) 1-2 Pale purple flower spikes
Great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) 3 Tall red-flowered plant, seeds freely
Hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) 3 Impressive red-purple flowers, seeds
freely
Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) 2-3 Superb native fern, dislikes lime

Suitability 1 2 3 Plants appropriate for all ponds, including small ones.
2 Plants rather too big or vigorous for smaller ponds.
3 Plants best reserved for larger ponds only.

* Most crowfoots do best where the water level drops to expose a muddy margin on which the seeds germinate.

Shearno

[Stewy]

Marsh marigold is nice.

[Kayleigh]

Originally Posted by Stewy

Marsh marigold is nice.

I have three marsh marigolds, I love them.
I also have yellow flag iris and they seed everywhere. They are beautiful.

[Tiggrx]

Originally Posted by kaitkaitkait

Eek. Good to know. But even *better* would be to know which ones?

Acorus calamus - sweet rush
Calla palustris - bog arum
Cyperus vegetus (eragrostis)
Mimulus luteus - monkey musk

these four species can are all found growing in the wild in Britain but are not true native species.

The Acorus is native to Asia & North America, the Calla to Europe, the Cyperus to tropical America and the Mimulus to Chile

[kaitkaitkait]

wow, thanks SO much! You guys are brilliant.

Looks like I have a few of those listed native plants - bog bean, marsh marigolds, yellow flag iris. I also have typha angustifolia and cotton grass and a few juncus (sp?)reeds but in 2 years those haven't spread at all (I may have been a little TOO effusive in my hessian wrapping. A shame I think, because my minipond which provides my ancient toad with a soggy, boggy residence is surrounded by tall grass, is very shaded and as a result is gin clear without a trace of algae anywhere.

Then again it's nice not to have to hoik things out, especially since I have so many emerging damselflies. I'd hate to deprive them of their escape route!

Well, since frogbit exists on the list of native flora, I shall try to buy some asap. I've also got some watercress coming. Looking forward to a little more water and a little less floating scunge!

[dampflippers]

DON'T put in:
Azolla/fairymoss
Crassula/swamp stonecrop
Parrots feather/ Myriophyllum aquaticum (the other ones are ok eg spicatum or whorled pindweed)
Water primrose - it looks lovely then suddenly takes off putting runners over the whole pond.

Frogbit is so sweet, water forgetmenot is great for newts and is pretty too, water starwort ditto but no flowers, Veronica beccabunga has pretty blue flowers above the water, water crowfoot and the other ranunculses are all nice.

good luck!

[kaitkaitkait]

Originally Posted by dampflippers

DON'T put in:
Azolla/fairymoss
Crassula/swamp stonecrop
Parrots feather/ Myriophyllum aquaticum (the other ones are ok eg spicatum or whorled pindweed)
Water primrose - it looks lovely then suddenly takes off putting runners over the whole pond.

Frogbit is so sweet, water forgetmenot is great for newts and is pretty too, water starwort ditto but no flowers, Veronica beccabunga has pretty blue flowers above the water, water crowfoot and the other ranunculses are all nice.

good luck!

I once brought some little bits of azolla home by accident on the side of a mesh pot of marginals I'd bought from the garden centre. I picked it off the pot as best I could and then as an experiment kept it in a tank to see how it would do.

To my surprise the tank surface was completely covered in azolla in two days. Scary. And I don't even think it's a particularly attractive plant! (by the way I dried it out and burnt it because I gather these things can survive almost anything and then find their way into waterways).