4 Tips for Planting a Water Garden

While ecosystem ponds and swim ponds are beautiful on their own, they can be further enhanced by an abundance of aquatic plants. Though it is easy to dream of plants throughout your pond, properly planting them can be a daunting task. As leading providers of high-quality and beautiful water features, the experts at Fontana Ponds & Water Features know how intimidating this task can be. That is why we have provided a list of 4 tips for planting a water garden to help you add to the appeal of your pond while promoting continued plant health.

Learn about the benefits of ponds and water features.

4 Steps to Create a Beautiful Water Garden

When planting your water garden, consider the following steps to ensure optimal aesthetic appeal and plant health:

1. Use Various Colours and Textures

To create an interesting and visually appealing garden, utilize a random placement of plants with varying textures and colours instead of plants with the same growth habits or leaf shapes. A varied combination of water lilies and marginal plants such as canna, arrowhead, aquatic forget-me-not, and water iris, are great choices for most ponds. The options are nearly endless and allow you to create a garden that is perfectly tailored to your colour preferences.

2. Know the Size of Each Plant

When starting a water garden, many owners fail to realize how large their pond plants will grow. When selecting plants for your garden, be sure to take the height and width of the mature plant into consideration and allow enough space for future growth. If your plants do become crowded and overgrown, they can be divided or thinned out as needed.

3. Place Short Plants in Front and Tall Plants at the Back

To ensure optimal visibility for every plant in your garden, be sure to place shorter plants up front while placing taller growths near the back.  As you will likely spend most of your time viewing your water garden from a deck or patio, it is important to keep that sight line in mind when planting your garden. In addition to visibility, this mix of tall and short plants creates more visual interest and appeal.

4. Consider the Needs for Each Plant

Before selecting plants for your garden, be mindful of how much sun they require and their planting depth. If a plant requires full sun, that typically means it needs a minimum of 6 hours of unobstructed sunlight per day.  If you are not sure what your plants need, ask your local garden centre or perform some research to ensure that they are a good choice for your typical weather conditions.

To learn more about water gardens or to inquire about our water feature installation services, get in touch with the team at Fontana Ponds & Water Features. We can be reached through our online contact form and will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding our services.