Once the main work in your garden is done, you have bitten the garden bug and you have dug, leveled and sweated, it is the time to choose the plants for your water garden.

It is recommended to focus the attention on the plant varieties within these four categories: deep-water, marginals, oxygenators, and floaters.

First of all you should plant the sprouts in plastic tubs, pans, or clay pots, packing the fertilizer- and chemical-free soil down tightly, load the container down with pea gravel is order to prevent the soil from floating away. After that you should plunk them into the water at the appropriate depth.

Try to do plant-dunking during the growing season. Wait four or five weeks for the water plants to do their thing before the fish will be added. It is very important to let the plants get established.

When you start choosing your plants you will definitely find water lilies of the tropical persuasion very beautiful. These aquatic wonders lord it over their hardier cousins. They produce amazing fragrance, big blooms day or night which will depend on their variety and a habit of blooming. You can watch their little hearts nearly every day during the growing season. They prefer warm climate, so unless you live in a year-round, warm-weather climate you may need to hasten them into a greenhouse or at least muster up enough moolah to buy them some “grow” lights to tough it out through the winter. They can’t survive when it is freezing outside that’s why it is crucial to provide them the night temperature which should be at least 65F and daytime temps of 75F or warmer, and your love affair with tropicals will only grow that much more torrid.

Hardy Water Lilies
The main benefit of Hardy water lilies is that they can be kept in the water for a long period of time unless it freezes so deeply the rootstock is affected. Due to this they can be planted deeper than the tropicals, some living it up in depths of 8 to 10 feet.

Both hardy and tropical water lilies are require a lot of sunlight. They need it at least 5 to 10 hours a day and regular fertilization in order to grow normally.

Lotus
These water-lily relatives may have hardy and not-so-hardy strains so it is crucial to determine this while buying. Lotus plants are bigger in size, they have huge, famously splendid blooms that look absolutely splendid. Their breathtaking leaves and seed pods make them a favorite in expensive floral arrangements.  Big, bold, and beautiful, with water-depth needs of 2-3 feet, these shouters are really better off in big ponds that get plenty of sun.

Marginals (sometimes called “bog” plants by those less high-falutin’) are grass-like plants which grown in shallow areas no deeper than 6” that border the water garden. It is also possible to plant them in mud. The family of marginals involves such species as cattail, bamboo, rush, papyrus, and many other which  grow best with a minimum of at least three hours of jolly old Sol.

There are also the plants which work stoically under the water to fight algae, oxygenate the water, and provide food for fish. (In lieu of these plants, if your pond is small, you can fake it fairly adequately with an aquarium pump.) These plants are inexpensive and can be bought in bunches and like their soil sandy and/or gravelly. Like hardy water lilies, they have the ability to resist in  winter weather conditions. 

Water hyacinths have recently gained their popularity  especially among “lazy gardeners”. These beautiful plants don’t require any soil. All they need is to be tossed in water. A water hyacinth ain’t just another pretty face, though; these plants are also very useful because they fight against algae and blanket weeds by keeping sunlight scarce on the water’s surface.

Note! This plant may take over the world if allowed. It’s invasive as all get out. That’s why it is very important to control its growth or it may look ugly in your garden. 

A water garden isn’t a garden without plants. All you need is some free time and choose the plants wisely considering such important factors as weather conditions and others. Your rewards will be great in return.