Home Aquatic Plants
- Many aquatic plants grow well in home water gardens.Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images
Whether you want to plant native species to attract wildlife or exotic tropical plants for their color, there is a wide variety of plants that grow well in home ponds and water gardens. Aquatic plants provide several ecosystem services for aquatic environments. They provide shelter and food for aquatic animals, stabilize temperature and help maintain water chemistry. There are three different types of aquatic plants based on where they grow in the water column. - Floating plants sit freely on the water surface and do not attach their roots to anything. Most floating plants are small in size but can reproduce rapidly, causing problems of over-population in some ponds. Floating plants are ideal for smaller water gardens where they can be easily removed if needed. Floating plants such as duckweed, water lettuce and water meal are all important food sources for many aquatic animals. In addition, floating plants provide shade and shelter. Care should be taken to ensure that exotic floating plants, such as water hyacinth, do not escape into the natural environment. Many floating plants are invasive species and can quickly establish populations in the wild, disrupting natural ecosystems.
- Emergent plants root themselves to the bottom of the pond but send up leaves and flowers to the surface to collect sunlight and reproduce. Water lilies and lotus plants are two of the most recognized emergent plants, but there are several others commonly available including taro plants and water shields. Emergent plants provide shelter for aquatic insects along the bottom of the pond and for other aquatic animals to hide under the large leaves on the surface. The leaves also help maintain water temperature and control algae blooms by limiting the amount of light that penetrates the pond. Emergent plants can easily be planted in flower pots and removed from the pond to winter indoors.
- Submersed plants exists wholly under water. They are valuable aquatic plants to have in your pond or water garden as they provide a large amount of oxygen to the water. In addition, many species of amphibians and fish prefer to lay their eggs in clusters of submersed plants. While they provide many environmental benefits for the aquatic environment, some species, such as elodea and anacharis, grow rapidly and can block water flow and cause stagnation. Both plants are commonly sold as aquarium plants and Brazilian elodea is highly invasive throughout North America. Other varieties include fanwort, hornwort and eelgrass.
