ping MatR

[john rutz]

Matt

thinking about your plant problems,, when purchasing plants for the
pond look for plants that are native or near native to the natural
water sources in your area.
I hav had no luck introducing "non wild" plants into my pond system.

the ones that grow in the large man made fishing ponds around me seem to
be the best to adapt to my pond.
--





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

[john rutz]

MattR wrote:
> John,
>
> Hmmmmmm. Good idea. I live in Colorado

so your plant needs are quite similar to mine

here is what works for me
wild yellow Iris ( blue flag or louisiana dont die just dont grow )
Cattails both the wild ones and the miniatures
reeds ( not sure which they dont grow like the iris and cattails but do
hang in an d mass gets slightly bigger each year )

85% of my plants are iris and cattail with the miniature cattail and
reeds making up the rest

Taro, Hyacinth, Canna, horsetail rush dont last at all -- too cold at
night for them arowhead and other "cold hardy" flowering plants last
about one season then die off in the following spring just after they
start growing


John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

[MattR]

Thanks for the ideas. I'll try the cat tails and yellow iris. Do you
grow them in dirt or do you use them to filter the water?

I do know some people around here that have had luck with some of these
other things, but their ponds are shaded. I kept a taro plant around
inside and it was doing great this spring but it's one foot in the grave
now. It's been hot here the past month. That, the extra uv, and cool
temps at night might be too much. I've seen great hyacinth but I
remember someone saying hyacinth prefered shade around here.

This makes me want to make that survey I talked about before.

Matt



john rutz wrote:
>
>
> MattR wrote:
>
>> John,
>>
>> Hmmmmmm. Good idea. I live in Colorado
>
>
> so your plant needs are quite similar to mine
>
> here is what works for me
> wild yellow Iris ( blue flag or louisiana dont die just dont grow )
> Cattails both the wild ones and the miniatures
> reeds ( not sure which they dont grow like the iris and cattails but do
> hang in an d mass gets slightly bigger each year )
>
> 85% of my plants are iris and cattail with the miniature cattail and
> reeds making up the rest
>
> Taro, Hyacinth, Canna, horsetail rush dont last at all -- too cold at
> night for them arowhead and other "cold hardy" flowering plants last
> about one season then die off in the following spring just after they
> start growing
>
>
> John Rutz
> Z5 New Mexico
>
> Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
>
> see my pond at:
>
> http://www.fuerjefe.com
>

[john rutz]

MattR wrote:
> Thanks for the ideas. I'll try the cat tails and yellow iris. Do you
> grow them in dirt or do you use them to filter the water?
>
Ok what I use i make a pot out of burlap withe either dirt or gravel
depends o n size of plant as the plant grows it grows thrugh the
burlap, when it gets big enough to stand by itself the burlap has rotted
awway and I just let em go from there, some of the cattails have a root
mass over 6 ft in diameter




John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com

[MattR]

john rutz wrote:

> awway and I just let em go from there, some of the cattails have a root
> mass over 6 ft in diameter


So what you're saying is get the dwarf variety ;)

[john rutz]

MattR wrote:
>
>
> john rutz wrote:
>
>> awway and I just let em go from there, some of the cattails have a
>> root mass over 6 ft in diameter
>
>
>
> So what you're saying is get the dwarf variety ;)
>

depending on the space aloted you can prune out the oldergrowth and
leave just the newer shoots in the fall

I left out the water celery it does fairly well too, and starts growing
when water temps reach around 40-45 degrees well before the rest of the
plants wake up
--





John Rutz
Z5 New Mexico

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

see my pond at:

http://www.fuerjefe.com