New Pond Plants

It's time to pot up plants after you have divided them. If your pond is like mine, you have many more plants coming up this spring that you had last fall. So hack them in two or three or four pieces at the bottom and repot them. Here's how:


How to pot up pond plants.


Don't forget you can read more about ponds at
Backyard Ponds with the Pondlady

I get Questions

Questions I get:

What is horticultural sand?? Sand box sand? Vermiculite?

Pondlady sez:

Horticultural sand is just sand that has been rinsed and is very clean. You
get it at the nursery or garden center. It's a bit pricey for sand, but is
not highly alkaline, and is better and easier in the long run. Save it year
to year, rinsing it before each use.

It is great to pot plants in because it contains no organic matter to discolor your pond water. It's also great for overwintering plants.

Potting up Plants

Pot up all the plants in heavy topsoil...no potting soil or anything with
vermiculite or perlite in it. That stuff will float all over the water and is almost impossible to net out. Then cover the top with sand or pebbles, so the soil won't float out. Most aquatic plants want to have about 1" of water over the tops of the pots.


When you pot up a water lily, put the water lily corm in the pot so the top of the corm sticks a bit out of the sand or other medium. Start feeding the lilly when the leaves reach the top of the water. The water lily wants to be at least 6-12" below the surface of the water.