Please ID pond plant....

[Red Robin]

....The emerging broad leaved plants near the Irises, please:



Many Thanks indeed

[Dorts]

Looks like Water Forget-me-not, a lovely pond plant.
Dorts.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Dorts

Looks like Water Forget-me-not, a lovely pond plant.
Dorts.

....Thank You, Dorts

I've just Google'd "Water Forget-me-not" and indeed I think it is. Looks very attractive. It must have been very small and lurking out of sight when I created the pond last June.

I've just read that like other wetland plants, Water Forget-me-not offers resting places for aquatic winged insects such as caddis flies and alder flies. It also has nectar and pollen for bees. < Goodee!

[Waits for The Biosecurity Police to tell me that it's an invasive alien]

[Dorts]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

[Waits for The Biosecurity Police to tell me that it's an invasive alien]

It's a good old British native. Probably was a seedling in among your Iris's.
Dorts.

[diggleken]

Originally Posted by Dorts

It's a good old British native. Probably was a seedling in among your Iris's.
Dorts.

Along with the duckweed - you might regret that, depending on what the pond is for!
Flag Iris will also take over if your pond isnt big.....................
The water forget me not is a lovely native and is a marginal if memory serves, so it might not be right in the water alone and would repay transplanting to a boggy marginal bit, Dorts will , I suspect, be able to advise better.
Cheers
Ken

[Dorts]

Yes, you're right Ken, the Forget-me-not is a 'true' marginal; it likes its roots in damp/moist soil from where it will grow out onto the water in the summer, dying-back in the winter.

The Duckweed could well become a nuisance and spoil the look of the pond, though if kept under control by regularly removal it will have no adverse effect on any pond-life.
Dorts

[Red Robin]

^^^^
Thanks, guys

As you can see from the pic, my wildlife pond (no fish) is quite small and all the plant growth is therefore easily manageable:



The Irises and Water Forget-me-nots are in baskets on a shelf so just below the water's surface. I checked out a photo I took when I was first given the baskets with plants last August and the Water Forget-me-nots were tiny and I assumed just a stray 'weed'. It's only this February that they've grown a lot bigger.

[Johnny Redgate]

Originally Posted by Red Robin

....Thank You, Dorts

I've just Google'd "Water Forget-me-not" and indeed I think it is. Looks very attractive. It must have been very small and lurking out of sight when I created the pond last June.

I've just read that like other wetland plants, Water Forget-me-not offers resting places for aquatic winged insects such as caddis flies and alder flies. It also has nectar and pollen for bees. < Goodee!

[Waits for The Biosecurity Police to tell me that it's an invasive alien]

Also well used by Great Crested Newt for egg laying where the leaves are in the water.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by Johnny Redgate

Also well used by Great Crested Newt for egg laying where the leaves are in the water.

....Aha! Where are my binoculars? This could be interesting but I won't be importing one - I'll let nature take its course on this one.

The Great Crested Newt looks very grand indeed! Now off to Google............

Thanks for the info - It's why I like this WAB forum

[Red Robin]

Bumped into the friend who gave me all my pond plants this afternoon. He has many years experience of pond keeping and also aquariums and is also born and bred locally. He tells me that Great Crested Newts don't inhabit our neck of the woods but that Smooth Newts do. Just as well really because those Great Crested chappies look like they are carnivorous dragons and anyway I don't think my small pond would support one.

I don't have a bog area and don't intend to create one, so we'll see what happens to the Water Forget-me-nots growing where they are in mud baskets just below the surface of the water.