How to plan a Container Water Gardens for The Yard?

One thing I remember about living in the southeast United States years ago were the beautiful marshy edges of a swamp where pond meets woods. A natural water garden, this atmosphere was a perfect growing environment for exquisitely lush plants like cabomba, cattails, green ferns, lotus and water-lilies.

Okay, so like me, you live in the middle of a town and have only a postage-stamp size yard! Oh sure, we’d all love to have that large, spacious backyard with a water garden, backyard fountain, and of course, a koi pond. However, don’t give up as all it takes to create a water garden is a sunny spot big enough for a pot of water. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Well, it is.

You can create a water garden if you have a spot in your yard that gets the full sun for at least 6 hours a day throughout the summer. Your water garden can be as elaborate as several arranged container gardens with rocks and a fountain powered by a circulating pump, or it can be as simple as a large tub with a few submerged plants.

Planning A Container Water Garden

Location, location, location! Although your space can be as small as a single square yard, it must receive plenty of sun throughout the day. If you locate your water garden beneath an overhanging tree, the falling leaves will decay in the water and foul your water container garden. Planning on building an actual pond or using a swimming pool as your container? If so, be sure to check local ordinances regarding safety before going ahead with any work.

Choose plants that are hardy for your planting zone, making sure they are suited to the container you’re using. The 4 basic kinds of water plants are:

1. Floating water plants such as cabomba and water hyacinth. Requiring no planting at all, these plants float on the surface of the water with their roots trailing to absorb nutrients.

2. Marginal or bog plants grow in the wild at the edges of ponds. They like to keep their feet wet, so to speak, with their roots and lower pars of their stems underwater. A few examples of marginal plants are black taro, dwarf cattails and sweet flag.

3. Growing completely underwater, submerged plants seldom show their leaves above the surface. Although they require thinning to keep them in check, they help maintain the balance of nitrogen and other nutrients.

4. Surface plants like floating yellow heart, lotus and water lilies rooted in the ponds bottom, or a submerged pot, put out leaves on long stems to float on the surface of the water.

Keep in mind the size of your container when choosing plants for your container water garden. Don’t overcrowd your garden. The rule of thumb is that your plants should cover no more than 2/3 of the surface of the water.

So you see, it’s no more difficult to grow a water garden in a container than it is to grow any other type of container garden. If you’d like to try your hand at creating a simple container water garden, you’ll find everything you need at a local home supply store.