 Water ponds are high fashion in prairie gardens. This past summer, I made the rounds of back yard water features on a well-organized private water gardens tour. The rocks – the boulders, the trickling streams, the tranquil ponds – were all spectacular and amazing. Spectacular design features and impressive installation techniques were all the buzz, but these pristine ponds were clearly short on plants! Engaging in discussion with pond owners, I rapidly discovered that pond plant savvy was in short supply.
Offered here are some suggestions that will help prairie dwellers produce a beautiful backyard pond with water plants. The plants will add life and colour, and even help with pond maintenance. These are a few must-haves in pond couture:
Floaters. Here is a group of plants you will grow to love. They are cheap, fun and easy! The best one to try first is water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes). It is the easiest of all to grow. Just toss this fuzzy, puffy looking “lettuce” on top of the pond, barrel or even bucket and it floats! It gets big fast, (about 20 cm, or eight inches, across) and throws a ton of cool baby “chicklet” plants: in other words, it “multipliesrapidly”! It needs half a day of sun. It is an organic living water filter. The roots literally trap dirt and debris to clean the water for you, as the plant absorbs the nutrients it uses to grow. Floaters also perform critical tasks in pond water management. They are a sun screen for the water in your pool, keeping water temperatures stable (good for the fish). Water lettuce shields bashful fish from predators to makes your pond much less hospitable to the unwelcome sun-loving freeloader, algae.
Less visible, but just as important are the O-2 (oxygen) generators. Parrot’s feather (Myriophyllum pinnatum) is easy to grow. It has luxurious feathery blue-green foliage with a velvety sheen. It will creep underwater or just at the surface of your pond. The submerged plants absorb carbon dioxide resulting from fish waste and decaying leaves, and convert it to oxygen to keep your pond water healthy. The standard recommendation for oxygenator plants is one bunch for every two square feet of surface area.
Parrots feather stems can grow from 20 cm to a half-metre long. Its lushly textured foliage shades the pond and fish, and it is a superb hiding place for pond dwellers. Because it will wiggle it way into wet soil above the water, Parrot’s feather is also very useful to soften the edges of waterfall crevices and naturalize pond edges. Although it is a tender annual, it winters well beneath the ice in frozen ponds.
 Marginal Plants. Create pond-side drama with a virtually indestructible plant that loves to have wet feet – yellow flag iris (Iris pseudacorus). This iris will withstand our coldest (zone 2) winters and bloom fragrantly yellow in June. Gold and green striped-leaf varieties can be found, along with the green. Flag iris reach a magnificent height, between 70 cm and one metre. They never grow smaller and fade away. Strong, resilient and sun loving, they do not like dry conditions!
Long on beauty and history, Nile grass (Cyperus papyrus), is one of my pond plant must-haves. Soft green clouds of papyrus lined the Nile River during the time of the pharaohs. In the Bible, the infant Moses was found amongst the bulrushes, as papyrus was also known. Ancient Egyptians kept pyramid-building records on papyrus sheets. We get the word “paper” from this plant.
Papyrus is a striking accent and a great conversation piece! It is a big plant and needs space to be appreciated, but has a smaller cousin, the dwarf umbrella grass (Cyperus alternifolius), for smaller ponds. Use this plant along the edges of your pond, or along slow moving streams to create masses of hazy light green foliage. A single clump is a focal point, or you may use it in pairs to frame a view. Grow papyrus in containers placed underwater. This keeps it from invading other plants’ territories, and generally makes life easier.
Lastly, the Ladies of the Pond! Water lilies look delicate and have many needs, but they are colourful, fragrant and the real princesses of the ball. Water lilies like warm water (21 degrees). They do not enjoy our sub-zero springs. Please wait until June 10 to put them in your pond. They will reward you with extraordinary blooms when the dog days of summer arrive.
Water lilies come in two basic types: hardy and tropical. Tropical water lilies bloom more magnificently, yet they will not survive outside through a Manitoba winter.
The handsome yellow hardy pond lily (Nuphar luteum), which is native across this continent, has fantastic glossy green leaves and simple globes of gold blossoms all through the summer. The plants will survive superbly in water 30 cm deep in a pot at the bottom of your pond.
Although most water lilies bloom during the day, some tropical lilies bloom only at night. Blossoms range in colour from white to yellow, pink, purple in vibrant hues and orange. Blooms can be two cm to 30 cm across.
 Water lilies are hungry plants. Feed them monthly with a fish-safe water pond fertilizer. Do not place them under a splashing waterfall: their leaves like to float on top of the water. Water lilies like full sun, all day.
Water pond gardening is yours to enjoy, remembering always that plants are the real secret to a wonderful water feature.!
Plant expert Tam Andersen owns Prairie Gardens and Greenhouses, in Bon Accord.
*Originally published on Alberta Gardener 2007 Early Spring issue
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