Hello All,

I have three water-retention ponds in my community, each about 1.25
acres in size. I'm located in the Southeast corner of Wisconsin.

For three years, the ponds were virtually unmanaged. Now we are
reclaiming them again. We had a terrible amount of cattail in each,
so much so you could not see the ponds. We have reduced the cattail
to less than 30% for each pond, and are now looking into useful
plantings.

The ideal planting is one that will help us define the edge of the
pond, keeping it looking natural, and something that will not grow
more than 36" tall, so homeowners can still see the ponds.

Being on a limited budget, we're looking for something natural yet
more pleasing to the eye than cattail.

The Internet is full of great ideas, so much so that the choices are
daunting. Given the experts here, I thought I would pose the question
in hopes of narrowing down the field of selection.....

Thanks!

Jme wrote:
I'm located in the Southeast corner of Wisconsin.


Don't have any answers, but I do have a question. Where in SE WS? I
was born in Kenosha about 4 blocks from the Lake.

Chip

Usually the plan behind plantings at the edge
of ponds like these are too keep other fertilized
runoff water out of the ponds. The fertilized runoff
will cause an algae bloom and oxygen problems
in the pond and cause a real mess.

There are all miniaturized versions of traditional
pond plants - mini cattails and mini horsetail rush
come to mind. In my pond they tend to be slow
growers and, because of their size, they don't
march out too far into deeper water like cattails
can.

otoh, you sited cost, and they can be more expensive
than some pond plants as they won't spread as
fast.

Lizard's tail isn't a very tall plant and likes to grow
and spread. It will even head out into moist lawn
but we just mow it over.

What you really want to keep in mind is how much
depth a plant can take. Depending on how deep your
ponds are a plant can fill in the entire pond given time.

Also if you buy any plants from a nursery clean them
all off of any tiny floating plants (duckweed and azolla)
or you'll be back here saying - 'help, the entire surface
of the pond is covered with this tiny floating plant!'

hth!
k :-)

Thanks for the ideas...

Our ponds have an 18' saftey shelf (as required by code) and taper
down to 6' at the deepest point in the middle. So the cattails had
plenty of room to grow.

Another idea was to put stone around the banks of the ponds, but I'm
sure that would not be cheap.

Chip, we're neighbor's - I'm in Racine county, just North of you..

Jme wrote:

Chip, we're neighbor's - I'm in Racine county, just North of you..

While we once may have been neighbors, sadly no longer. I am now in
HOT, SUNNY, no rain, but it's a dry heat Phoenix AZ.

Chip

you have a great resource, Windy Oaks, in Eagle Wisconsin.
http://home.wi.rr.com/windyoaks/

There are lots of plants that will meet the limits. Iris comes to
mind. they propagate themselves very nicely and are sculptural when
not blooming. Ingrid

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 17:38:12 CST, Jme
wrote:

Hello All,

I have three water-retention ponds in my community, each about 1.25
acres in size. I'm located in the Southeast corner of Wisconsin.

For three years, the ponds were virtually unmanaged. Now we are
reclaiming them again. We had a terrible amount of cattail in each,
so much so you could not see the ponds. We have reduced the cattail
to less than 30% for each pond, and are now looking into useful
plantings.

The ideal planting is one that will help us define the edge of the
pond, keeping it looking natural, and something that will not grow
more than 36" tall, so homeowners can still see the ponds.

Being on a limited budget, we're looking for something natural yet
more pleasing to the eye than cattail.

The Internet is full of great ideas, so much so that the choices are
daunting. Given the experts here, I thought I would pose the question
in hopes of narrowing down the field of selection.....

Thanks!

Excellent, thanks!

On Jul 25, 11:00 am, wrote:
you have a great resource, Windy Oaks, in Eagle Wisconsin. http://home.wi.rr.com/windyoaks/

There are lots of plants that will meet the limits. Iris comes to
mind. they propagate themselves very nicely and are sculptural when
not blooming. Ingrid

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 17:38:12 CST, Jme



wrote:
Hello All,

I have three water-retention ponds in my community, each about 1.25
acres in size. I'm located in the Southeast corner of Wisconsin.

For three years, the ponds were virtually unmanaged. Now we are
reclaiming them again. We had a terrible amount of cattail in each,
so much so you could not see the ponds. We have reduced the cattail
to less than 30% for each pond, and are now looking into useful
plantings.

The ideal planting is one that will help us define the edge of the
pond, keeping it looking natural, and something that will not grow
more than 36" tall, so homeowners can still see the ponds.

Being on a limited budget, we're looking for something natural yet
more pleasing to the eye than cattail.

The Internet is full of great ideas, so much so that the choices are
daunting. Given the experts here, I thought I would pose the question
in hopes of narrowing down the field of selection.....

Thanks!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:37:20 CST, k wrote:

There are all miniaturized versions of traditional
pond plants - mini cattails and mini horsetail rush
come to mind.

This is true, but in a natural or large pond, plants that have been
"changed" can revert back to their natural size. I wouldn't recommend
horsetail to anyone, since it can get in the yard and grow even in a low
water area and is very difficult to kill once established.

I don't even know of any plant that wouldn't be a lot of work to keep from
surrounding the shore. We have many small lake ponds heading towards the
mountains that must have 5 feet width of yellow iris extending out into
them. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

plants that have been
"changed" can revert back to their natural size

Is this the same thing that happened to the
white snapdragons I planted coming back
the next year in different colours?

k :-)

On Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:29:05 CST, k wrote:

Is this the same thing that happened to the
white snapdragons I planted coming back
the next year in different colours?

k :-)

No, those flowers got pollinated by bees that had multi-colored pollen from
other snap dragons. So your different colors ones came back from seed. ;-)
~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

No, those flowers got pollinated by bees that had multi-colored pollen from
other snap dragons. So your different colors ones came back from seed. ;-)

Dastardy bees! They ruined my colour
scheme!

So what is the mechanism that makes
mini-plants revert to regular sized plants?
(I love having a master gardener Goddess
to answer all my questions!)

k :-)

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:17:37 CST, k wrote:

So what is the mechanism that makes
mini-plants revert to regular sized plants?

There is a word for it, but I can't pull it out of my brain. Kind of like a
throw back genetically. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us

sport or reversion. throw back is good too. Ingrid

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:50:28 CST, ~ jan wrote:

On Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:17:37 CST, k wrote:

So what is the mechanism that makes
mini-plants revert to regular sized plants?

There is a word for it, but I can't pull it out of my brain. Kind of like a
throw back genetically. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State
Ponds: www.jjspond.us