I need to add some plants to my freshwater tanks, but the LFS's around
here only seem to have pathetic, sick-and-dying plants.

I hope you research plants as carefully as you would fish. You can't just
throw any old plants in any old tank and expect them to grow. Most plants sold
as aquarium plants are not suited for the average tank, either because they
require too much light, or because they are bog plants, and will die if
submerged permanently in a fishtank.

If you're new, read this page:

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/.../881/setup.htm

It will give you an idea of the kind of decisions you'll have to make if you
want to set up a planted tank.

Also see these pages:

www.tropica.com

http://faq.thekrib.com/plant-list.html

In particular, check to make sure any plants you plan to buy are true aquatics,
and that you have enough light for them. (A standard tank hood has only low
lighting.)

I have seen that one can order plants from some websites. What kind of
experience have people had doing this? Do the plants arrive in healthy
condition? Or at least salvagable?

I've ordered from aquaticplantdepot.com, twice, and was very happy with the
product and service. The plants arrived in great shape. And there's no
minimum order, like many places have.

You might also consider getting plants from your fellow hobbyists. Cedar
Rapids is probably a large enough city that there's a fish club. They might
have auctions and such, where you can get great plants cheap. People on the
newsgroup also give away plant clippings for the cost of the postage.

I have no idea how to deal
with the moneywort, which is tall enough to need pruning. How can I
safely "multiply" it?

Moneywort is a stem plant. You can just cut off the tops and replant them.
They'll root, and the bottoms will re-grow.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/