Planting a Water Garden

September 29, 2010

I have always loved water gardens and I have a couple of long troughs planted with aquatic plants, located in the pass way between my greenhouse and the headhouse. Recently on my television show, we shot a segment with John Courtney, greenhouse manager for Aquascapes Unlimited, located in Pipersville, Pennsylvania. It’s fascinating to learn about aquatic plants. For example, aquatic plants provide habitats for many micro and macro invertebrates. In turn, fish and other wildlife species feed upon those invertebrates. When the aquatic plants die, many invertebrates feed upon their decomposition, completing a cycle of life. After the segment, I brought some of the aquatic plants home for Shaun to add to the greenhouse water garden. Take a look.

: Much of the water was drained out of the troughs to reveal the individual plants.

: Wilmer left the new shoots that were emerging.

: This clump of papyrus was quite overgrown and many stems were removed. You can see the pithy centers.

: I’ll try my hand at making papyrus paper another day – this load found its way to the compost.

: Here are the new water plants given to me by John Courtney, the greenhouse manager for Aquascapes Unlimited.

: Water Lettuce has velvety foliage that spreads like strawberry plants across the surface. The bright green lettuce-like heads provide shade and spawning areas for any fish below.

: Free-floating water hyacinth has dark green leaves, which are attached to spongy, inflated petioles. These plants are highly invasive in southern climes.

: These lovely things are pitcher plants and I’ll tell you about them tomorrow.

: Wilmer got busy and began trimming back the overgrown papyrus.

: The ancient Egyptians made a thick paper-like material using the pith of the papyrus plant.

: After thinning out and refilling with water, Wilmer began placing the water lettuce upon the surface.

: Shaun got busy with the water hyacinth.

: As you can see, the water hyacinth has a thick and fibrous root system.

: This is a cross-section of a petiole, revealing many small air chambers, which keep the water hyacinth afloat.

: To divide large clusters of water hyacinths, you just pull them apart. These plants will eventually send up a flower spike with beautiful blue-violet flowers.

: The family of duckweeds are the smallest flowering plants and float on or just below the water surface. High in protein, ducks and other aquatic birds consume duckweed and often transport it to other bodies of water.