Benefits and Choice of Aquatic Plants for Wildlife Ponds

Aquatic Plant Benefits & Choice for Wildlife Ponds

The huge benefits of aquatic plants for ponds…

Many species of aquatic plants produce flowers, are a food source for many animals, they provide safe refuge for wildlife, and add aesthetical beauty for us, they also help to prevent bankside erosion by stabilising banks with their root system, are extremely good at absorbing waste produced by fish or contaminants such as fertilisers from run-off and are vital for producing oxygen. All aquatic plants play a major role in ensuring a freshwater ecosystem stays balanced, assisting in the pond’s nitrogen cycle, and aiding water quality through uptake of excess nutrients and nitrogen.

Working with nature, and with the correct choice of aquatic plants to include submerged and emergent species, simply allowing aquatic plants to do what they are best at, will ensure your pond reaches a natural equilibrium.

How many aquatic plants should I add to my pond?

For a new pond, I would normally advise on having approximately one third of your ponds surface covered with suitable aquatic plants, for example, a pond measuring 3 x 3 meters, having a surface area of 9 m², should have around 3 m² of planting, suggesting five plants of 1 litre pot size per m². Over a couple of seasons growth, the plants will cover at least one half of the pond surface, leaving plenty of room for wildlife, helping to prevent algae growth, and providing plenty of choice habitat.

What about choice of aquatic plants?

I have already spoken about the aesthetic benefits; thus, element of choice will be slightly driven by colour, height, and flowering period. We also need to ensure however, that we add beneficial plants for the pond’s delicate ecosystem, species that include good oxygenation abilities such as our native Hornwort ‘Ceratophyllum demersum’, some plants to provide good marginal cover and protective habitat for invertebrates, tadpoles, and newts such as Brooklime ‘Veronica beccabunga’, or Water mint ‘Mentha aquatica’, both these species produce root growth directly to the water also helping to remove excess nutrients. Other marginal species for dragonflies and damselflies might include taller plants such as the Flowering rush ‘Butomus umbellatus’ or irises, or Pickerel weed ‘Pontederia cordata’. A selection of deeper water plants to provide valuable surface cover from the sun, apart from water lilies might include Water hawthorn ‘Aponogeton distachyos’, or Amphibious bistort ‘Persicaria amphibia’.

Please be mindful some garden centres and online retailers are still selling banned aquatic plant species. Do not buy invasive non-native species, detailed below*, ask where the plants are grown, are they UK grown. It would be prudent to only buy British grown plants as they should be genetically pertinent to our climate, therefore more likely to survive. Do not buy everything that looks good at the time of buying, as you will be disappointed by the lack of good-looking plants for the rest of the season. Try to have at least 70:30 in favour of native aquatic plants, this way you will have more of a selection and not be restricted by the majority of yellow and white flowering plants.

Which aquatic plants are banned for sale in the UK?

It is illegal for all retailers to sell any of these species of aquatic plants. Although it is not illegal for you to have them in your pond, it is a good idea never to share pond plants between ponds to help stop the spread of invasive non-native species. Here is a list of banned aquatic plants in the UK:

*Fairy moss ‘Azolla filiculoides’, New Zealand pigmyweed or Stonecrop ‘Crassula helmsii’, Water hyacinth ‘Eichornia crassipes’, Oxygenating weed ‘Elodea crispa’, Floating pennywort ‘Hydrocotyle ranunculoides’, Duckweed ‘Lemna minor’, Parrot’s feather ‘Myriophyllum aquaticum’, and Skunk cabbage ‘Lysichiton americanas’.

Lack of training, knowledge and understanding of aquatic plant benefits and choice for your wildlife ponds often results in conflicting information being given to you from aquatic shops, garden centres, and the internet. So, when choosing pond plants it can be extremely challenging. If you have any questions relating to choice of aquatic plants for your wildlife pond, or you would like to have us provide and plant your wildlife pond for you in Devon, please do get in touch with us.