How to Select Suitable Plants for Your Water Garden

The serenity that having a water garden in your backyard offers creates a feeling like no other. The sounds of the trickling water, the beauty of the variety of plants, and the birds that may be attracted to the water garden all come together to become a scenic representation of peace and rejuvenation.

However, despite your love for water gardens, you may be intimidated by the process of picking the right plants. How do you choose?

Many people ask this question. That is why we are discussing today’s topic and sharing with you how to pick the right plants for your water garden.

After today, you’ll stop second-guessing yourself and be ready to start picking out plants for your water garden right away!

What’s the Deal with Depth?

Before you can actually choose which plants you’d like to have in your water garden, it is essential to get educated on the needs of different water garden plants. One of these needs is crucial to keeping your water garden plants alive: depth.

The depth at which different water garden plants thrive is unique to each group of plants. For example, certain plants such as lotuses and water lilies float above the surface of the water while their roots extend below into the depth. Other water garden plants are oxygenating or submerged plants. This means that they grow at the bottom of your water garden, completely submerged under the water’s surface.

Marginal plants (or shelf plants) can only tolerate six or fewer inches of water above their crown. Like cattails and sweet flag, these plants grow best when they are planted in the shallow shelf around the edges of your water garden.

The last category of plants to add to your water garden is bog plants. These plants thrive in wet soil above the water level of your aquatic garden. Water iris and rose pogonia are two bog plants that will live best in this area.

Now that you know about these categories of water garden plants, you can start picking which ones you would like for your water garden!

Picking your Plants for Your Water Garden

Since you are already aware of where each type of plant should go in your water garden, the rest of the choice is up to you! You can pick your plants for your water garden based on color, scent, and appearance. One tip is that rather than planting an array of different colors, try to keep it simple with two or three colors that complement each other. Fewer colors will help relax your mind and bring harmonious environment for your water garden.

Bear in mind that you should keep some of your plants in shallow containers within your water garden, to help keeping your water cleaner and your plants healthier.

Enjoy Your Serene Water Garden

Now you are ready to begin setting up the plants in your water garden! Once you have placed each plant at its proper water level, sit back and enjoy your serene water garden with peace of mind, knowing that you have taken great care in learning how to best provide for these plants in your water garden.

Find out more about caring for your water garden, the best products for your water garden, and hiring others to help with your water garden on our website!