Pulling trigger (ordering plants): tell me if these work and how to plant them?

[Phaewryn]

Hi everyone. I could use your help. I found a source of pond plants online and narrowed these down by eliminating anything toxic to cats or not likely to survive in my zone (5a) currently (not concerned about surviving winter, just need it to survive occasional 40 degree nights for now). The water temp is still down near 50 at night, even with the heater. The pond is 60 gallons, 18" deep at deepest but that's where the box filter and pump are so can't fit much down there that deep, it has two 8" deep shelves, the top tier is 9 gallons and potentially a place to plant bog plants as it is 5" deep, and currently has 2" of gravel and only about 3" water over that gravel (more gravel can be added to make it deeper gravel and less water height), but the water does have a significant current. I don't think I can plant the middle tiers, the water current is extremely strong in them, but I'm open to ideas if you know something that might be OK with that. Here's a screenshot of my cart and a pic of my pond (freshly emptied, scrubbed clean, and refilled with all new water as I had a rotting dead mouse in the bottom and decided that saving my algae wasn't worth that bacterial trade-off - I wasn't going to be able to put my hands in due to the gross factor otherwise). We *should* be past the last frost by now, and the pond is heated. It's filtered sun/shade all morning til afternoon, then evening sun from around 1-2PM to sunset, all western exposure (it's on a west-facing hillside). Do you think these will survive spring in Vermont or should I wait another month? How do I "plant" them in the pond? Do I need baskets and substrate for the Chameleon Plant, Forget-Me-Not, and Loosestrife? Should I put them in the main pond in a floating/elevated basket or try them in the top tier in the gravel? Would I use just a planted aquarium substrate (Flourite) as soil in planter baskets? Do I just throw the Mint and Rotala into the pond and let them float around and see what happens? Do you think my 1200GPH pump will just suck them to the box filter if I don't anchor them to a shelf somehow (that's what happens to leaves)? Any other non-toxic plant suggestions and sources to buy them online?

 

[addy1]

I have the mint and blue forgetmenot, they do fine. Just plant and they grow

 

[Phaewryn]

I have the mint and blue forgetmenot, they do fine. Just plant and they grow

Plant in baskets? What do you use for substrate/soil? How deep do you place them in the water?

 

[addy1]

Both are in my bog, pea gravel and water. Kitty litter gets them going good. Both are totally wet feet 1-2 inches of water, some are in shallow water, some are in damp. In one of my stream ponds the mint is growing right in the water about 1.5 feet deep no soil. The blue fortget me not seems to like the shallow water, ie pea gravel right at the surface.

Pots baskets etc will work.

 

[Lisak1]

Let me warn you about that chameleon plant - it is an aggressive spreader. Like if it gets into your garden you will never get rid of it. Keep it contained to your bog and you'll be fine, but I know several gardeners who rue the day they ever saw that plant.

The others I have had at one time or another - some I love, like the forget me not - others I got rid of - like the mint. Too spread for me. The "outback sunset" I plant every year in my patio pond - it's not perennial here - it's so pretty!

 

[Phaewryn]

Both are in my bog, pea gravel and water. Kitty litter gets them going good. Pots baskets etc will work.

Scanning their plant list (which is a long word document and not the easiest to search), it looks like my local nursery has Golden Aquatic Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea') and Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) in stock for water/bog plants. The internet says "Plant this hardy specimen in heavy loam soil with up to 3 inches of water above the top of the container" for the Golden Aquatic Jenny. I have no idea what "heavy loam soil" is - I'm not a gardener. I know what potting soil is because it comes in a bag that says potting soil. That's the extent of my gardening knowledge. Will kitty litter in an aquatic plant basket work for these as well?

I will probably order some harder to find things online, but would like to give my local nursery some business if I can make these work.

 

[Phaewryn]

Let me warn you about that chameleon plant - it is an aggressive spreader. Like if it gets into your garden you will never get rid of it. Keep it contained to your bog and you'll be fine, but I know several gardeners who rue the day they ever saw that plant.

Noted and removed from the list. I do not want invasives if at all avoidable.

 

[WaterGardener]

I have a camelion plant in the pond. It's in a pot, planted in plain kitty litter in about 10" of water. It gets larger every year, but it's contained a large round pot in the pond. It's a beautiful plant and as long as it's planted in a pot in the pond, it's not in danger of being invasive.

 

[Phaewryn]

I now have Creeping Jenny and Marsh Marigold in the cascades, plus I have Water Forget-me-not seeds started, and I planted a couple Hostas in a temporary pot on the shelf in the pond (real pond planter baskets are ordered). I ordered some Watercress seed and a Lemon Bacopa off Etsy. I did find another source for the Chamelion Plant and American Frogbit that didn't have insane quantity minimums and had shipping for under $20, so I just ordered those too, one Chamelion Plant and three Frogbits (the minimum).

I do not need three frogbits, so if anyone's in driving distance to Springfield, VT and wants one, I'll sell it to you at my cost ($4).

I think I should be good now! Not exactly all the things I had decided on, but I wanted to give my local nursery some business (and get something in there ASAP) so thus the Creeping Jenny and Marsh Marigold (the only bog/water plants they had that would stay small enough). The Chamelion Plant will be in a planter in the pond which has no water-to-soil contact, so the invasiveness shouldn't be a problem. Do you think it could go in the same basket as the hostas or a frogbit, or does it need its own planter basket?

It's been in the 40's this past week and my water temp is around 55 right now (with the heater set to 70) and I'm sure it's colder in the middle of the night. Is that too cold for any of these things? I can throw them in my indoor aquarium or set them up in gallon size pickle jars inside if need be if it's too cold to have them outside. Vermont weather is weird. Week before last it was up in the 80's and I was dying of the heat, now I'm sitting here shivering.

Pond now: