kc wrote:

Okay, I tried to research this on the web, where I found a pond supply
page listing water hyacinth and anachris as HARDY WINTER PLANTS--there go
that page's credibility--mine just turn to mush if I leave them in, and
I'm in zone 8!

Anacharis is hardy to, iirc, Zone 4. Certainly to zone 5.

I have zebra grass, horsetail, pickerel, cattail, dwarf papyrus, canna
lily (can you see I spend WAY too much this spring and want to save some
of my investment) and outside the pond elephant ear, ginger flower and
banana
tree (which is probably already dead). I want to keep the bringing of
plants inside to a minimum if possible. I have read things here about
"sinking" plants, which I don't really understand--how do you sink a
plant--put rocks in the pot so it sinks to the bottom of the pond, or
what?

Exactly. I've tried various methods - one of the best is to take an old
pair of panty hose (remove wife first) put a stone in each toe, tuck plants
into the legs, tie top, drop in pond.

Zebra grass (probably - I expect there are a lot of plants going by that
name), pickerel rush, horsetail and cattail should be fine where they are
now. I don't know if any of the others would benefit from sinking. I
always brought papyrus/umbrella palm indoors - but that's in zone 5.
Sinking is really for semi-hardy plants. Those that will go dormant, but
can't actually be frozen.
--
derek