Pond Plants, Umbrella plants

Umbrella plants, sometimes called umbrella palms or cyperus grow as full sized plants up to 6' tall or as dwarfs about 10 inches tall.

The full sized umbrellas are invasive and will grow anywhere, in the water or out. In the south, I have seen them planted too close to a house and they have cracked the foundation, so be careful where you put them. That said, the plant is a great aquatic plant. It is immune to every disease I know of and if kept contained looks wonderful waving in the breeze. When a stalk gets old and turns brown, just whack it off at the bottom. If it grows out of its pot, just cut off the overgrowth and start a new pot. I usually cut the plant way back to about an inch tall in the fall, so new growth can come up in the spring. One wonderful thing about this plant: If the top umbrella part of the stalk falls in the water, a new plant will grow from that.

The dwarf umbrellas do not perform well for me in the water. I usually plant them in the ground and use as a ground cover. The plant spreads nicely and must be kept under control. But, I have not seen it disrupt foundations of houses.

I used the full sized umbrella in almost every pond I built because I knew that no matter how the owner might abuse it, it would just keep on growing.