One of the most satisfying jobs that I’ve ever had the enjoyment to work on in my garden was setting up a water garden or pond for my own pleasure. Nothing beats sitting by a pond in the evening with a glass of wine. Just watching the fish happily swimming around knowing that you have created their environment on their behalf, it creates an incredible feeling of satisfaction.

Aponogeton distachyos is an example of one of the very best Deep-water aquatics, it’s a simple plant to grow with leaves which tend to be evergreen and flowers that appear for months on end.

Golden Club (Orontium)

Orontium aquaticum is usually a trouble free and non-invasive plant with just one fussy requrement, it does will want lots of soil, so make sure you plant it inside a deep Water Lily basket. It should grow in shallow water, but it needs a planting depth of at least 1ft. if you’d like the leaves to float over the water surface rather than standing erect out of the water. The foliage is attractive with blue-green above and silvery below. The biggest feature of this member of the Arum family is the unusual flower head. This stands above the water like a pure white pencil having a tip that’s coloured gold by a mass of little yellow florets. This is one aquatic plant that I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone.

Water Hawthorn (Aponogenton)

Aponogeton distachyos is an example of one of the most effective Deep-water aquatics, it’s an easy plant to grow with leaves which can be evergreen and flowers that appear for months on end. These curious flowers borne on spikes which float on the surface, each flower has waxy white petals and black anthers. The fragrance is strong, variously described as ‘vanilla and ‘Hawthorn-like’. The oblong leaves are sometimes blotched with brown and the eventual spread is about 2 ft. Unlike a Water Lily it will eventually flourish in partial shade and moving water, but be sure that it’s deep enough for those tubers that will want be below the ice in winter.

Pond Lily (Nuphar)

It is a relative from the Water Lily family however it is not as attractive as it’s illustrious cousin. The flowers are small, rather plain and are carried on thick stems above the water. You will discover, however, a few distinct rewards, light ans shade is not a problem and neither is moving water. For the average sized pond choose ‘Nuphar minima’ (N. pumila). The yellow flowers are about 1inch across and also the under-water foliage is translucent. Unfortunately, the varieties on offer tend to be the large ones for example N. lutea (Brandy Bottle) with its 3 inch bottle shaped yellow flowers which smell strongly of alcohol. This really is only ideal for a sizable pond or lake.

Water Fringe (Nymphoides)

There is simply one basic species – Nymphoides peltata, commonly referred to as Floating Heart. In your catalogues you would possibly locate it listed as Villarsia bennettii or Limnanthermum nymphoides. The miniature Water Lily-like leaves measure about 2 inches across and are often crinkly edged and blotched or spotted with brown. The 11/2 inch yellow flower is more sort of a Buttercup than a Water Lily, and also the petal edges are fringed. The blooms are borne in small clusters. This is certainly a useful plant for giving rapid surface cover before Water Lilies become too established, but it can get out of hand.

For my next few articles I’ll be writing about the marginal plants that you might think about placing into a pond. You can get too many to mention in one article, so I may have to split them into several smaller articles. Happy reading to you all. I would certainly also like to take this chance to thank the ‘landscaping london‘ company that have given me help and advise during the countless years that I have been gardening.