Plants in and around the water.

I thought I'd share some of what is growing in and around the pond and water garden now.  It was so sunny, that after my plant shopping yesterday I went to work in the yard.  I'm starting a little water garden this year in a new area.  I've moved this planter around the yard, like I do furniture in the house.  Last year it was on my front porch, but it doesn't get much sun there so around to the back it went.  This is just a "whiskey barrel" with a 20 gallon liner in it.  I have just two plants in it right now.  One is my new water hyacinth which will get lavender flowers.  It floats on the surface of the pond and sends down very long roots.  It is a great natural filter in a pond with fish in it.  I do know that in some states it's illegal to plant these because they will quickly take over natural ponds, lakes and rivers.  Here it is an annual and dies with the first frost.

The other new plant is Miniature Cattail (typha minima).  I have one of these in my pond and I just love it.  It gets to be 2 to 3 feet tall and small versions of cattails grow in the late summer.   I put a plant like this up on bricks so that the crown isn't too far under water.

I'm trying to find yellow flag iris (iris pseudacorus) and another plant or two to add to this container, hopefully a Lobelia siphilitica (Cardinal Flower).

I bought a new floating plant for the pond as well called Fairy Moss (azolla caroliniana).  I planned to take a picture of it since it's such a small amount when you first buy it.  As I was doing something else my littlest gardener told me she needed some new water.  She was holding the cup it came in, empty!

Trying to get information from a 2 year old is not easy.  I kept asking her where the water was, did the dog drink it?  Where is  it?  She pointed to this ground cover and told me it was in there.  Trying to pick it out of there wasn't easy, I only found some of it.

So here is part of what I was able to recover.  A very small amount will quickly multiply over the summer and cover the whole pond if I let it.  The foliage gets a very reddish hue in the fall and occasionally it will survive the winter.

Some of the plants growing on the shady side of the pond are really starting to look good. I've tried to plant spring, summer and early fall blooming flowers and ground covers in this area. Astillbe, hostas, chelone glabra, ligularia 'Othello', oxalis oregana, sweet woodruff and ferns are mostly what are here.

This is one of the many hostas and you can see the Water hawthorn floating in the pond in the background.

I love the new growth on this fern, it even feels as soft as it looks.   I wish I could remember the variety.

Having the option to buy water plants makes plant shopping even more fun.  The nursery we went to has a very large selection of floating, marginal and deep water plants.  Now I have an excuse to go back so I can replace the missing Fairy Moss!

Don't forget to enter my water garden book giveaway, it's located at the top of my sidebar.