Pond plants in the winter

[kathateria]

Is it necessary to bring in pond plants in the winter? Are there any particularly fragile plants? Thanks all

[tom00_uk]

nope not unless you want them to start growing a little earlier or your growing exotics

some people try and save water hyacinth by taking it inside, but it normally ends up getting mildew and rotting away

[Kayleigh]

I had a lovely dwarf water lily for my barrel and lost it due to the hard winter..
Normally on plant labels or plant books tell you if they need protection over winter but if they are native then they are normally hardy..

[tom00_uk]

near the end of winter i some times bring in a marsh marigold and a water-forget-me-not and depending on the amount of growth ragged robin to get them growing a little early so I can take cuttings

I dont have water lilly as its not a massive pond and i wanted a native to do the job of surface flowering, but the same treatment happens for the odd water hawthorn thats bulked up enough to be worth cutting.

I can then fill in gaps where plants got damaged over winter by the visiting wildlife or pass them on to friends and occasionally sell a few.

But this all depends on the amount of space in the unheated greenhouse over winter and how well the selected plants have done after their last heavy prune the spring before.

[Red Robin]

Personally I won't grow or use any plant in my garden or pond that can't look after itself 24/7/52. That's partly why I use hardy alpines. Having said that, I do grow sunflowers every year but that's all.

I can't be doing with all this faffing about nursing plants - It seems totally unnatural to me and I prefer to spend my time doing other things.



^ Pic taken a few days ago. The pond will be 1 year old next month and has survived snow, ice, and strong winds.

[Falesh]

Native pond plants seem very robust to winter. I made a new pond last autumn and planted it up before winter. The pond is mostly shallow and froze to the bottom in some places yet all the plants bar one species survived even though they were newly put in young plants.