Spring is just around the corner, time to watch for canna bulbs to come out
at the hardware store, thus a timely re-post on having success in the pond
with these normally terrestrial plants:

Cannas in the pond.

Do you love to have something in bloom in the pond? Water lilies usually
take a center stage as they have been bred for their spectacular beauty.
Many of the marginal plants have not. They are mostly kept for the
variations in their foliage rather than their blooming ability. On the
other hand, their terrestrial cousins have been bred over the years for
both spectacular blooms and foliage. Would you like to find this in a water
plant? Well, you can, and if you do it yourself, for as little as $1.25.

Enter your terrestrial cannas and calla lilies. Start watching for the
bulbs and rhizomes to come into stores around March. Pick a color you like
and plant it in regular garden soil, using a pot or basket that you can
eventually put in your pond. Follow the directions for planting on the
package and place next to a sunny window. Water as needed to just keep the
soil damp. When the plant gets one to two leaves, it's time to slowly
introduce it to more water.

Start by placing the pot in an inch of water. Then raise the water level
another 1/2-1 inch each week. During this time, if weather permits, you
should also have the plant outside in a protected area to harden it off.
When you have the water level up to the surface of the soil, you need to
slowly start conditioning the plant to being in the sun, while maintaining
the water level. Once the plant is conditioned to the same amount of direct
sun as your pond, you can put it in the pond with about 2-3 inches over its
crown. Expect blooms long before the terrestrial cannas you planted in the
ground to occur.

During the conditioning time if the plant tends to wilt or not mature, you
may be increasing the water level too fast. Lower the level until you see
the plant recover, then wait another week before continuing to raise the
water level.

You can buy terrestrial cannas and callas lilies that are already
conditioned to water from some of the local nurseries. Expect to pay
between $10-$20 depending on type.

There are two ways to save the plant for next year. One way is to bring the
plant inside and keep it in a shallow saucer of water and treat it like a
house plant. The other is to go through the process of drying the bulb or
rhizome and storing in peat moss. ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
To e-mail see website

Thanks for the info Jan.....I've always loved Cannas but have had mixed
success with them......I'm tempted to give them another go probably in
the bog garden if the pond isn't built in time.....

Gill

I have a bunch of canna's planted aornd one section of the one pond
and they do great. Lowes one year was selling "aquatic Cannas"

Anothe rplanyt that does good in water is impatients.....never tried
the New Guinea types, but the others do great. Put a clump of them
bareroot in and around rocks on the edgeing or in water fal area
etc....Might try some New Guinea this year as a test.

If you take piece of foam and poke holes in it, and place an impatient
in each hole then float the foam, it makes a nice floating island of
color..I use a piecxe of monofiliament line with a small weight tied
to it,float the impatieint islands out in place and anchor with
weighted fishing line.....
l ...


-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:46:08 -0600, Tristin
wrote:

I have a bunch of canna's planted aornd one section of the one pond
and they do great. Lowes one year was selling "aquatic Cannas"

There are true (& hardy) cannas, but many aquatic Cannas are simply ones
that have been conditioned. Better to do your own then pay 5 to 10 times to
have someone do it for you. ;-) My favorite is Cleopatra.

Anothe rplanyt that does good in water is impatients.....

I've had mixed success with them, but I have seen LOVELY pictures of those
who have had GREAT success. Seems in streams they do very well. I had my
best success in floating islands.

If you take piece of foam and poke holes in it, and place an impatient
in each hole then float the foam, it makes a nice floating island of
color..I use a piecxe of monofiliament line with a small weight tied
to it,float the impatieint islands out in place and anchor with
weighted fishing line.....

Yes! And it looks very cool once they've covered the float. :-) I just wish
I had a bigger pond, I did mine in my big pots by the front door, gave up
on heavy soil and went to water plants. I still can get color by using some
terrestrial plants that don't mind wet roots. ~ jan

"Gill Passman" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the info Jan.....I've always loved Cannas but have had mixed
success with them......I'm tempted to give them another go probably in the
bog garden if the pond isn't built in time.....

Gill
====================
Watch for spider mites on them. Also leaf rollers that destroy the top
leaves and buds. I'm considering digging all mine up and getting rid of
them.
--
RM....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
rec.ponder since late 1996.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~~ }((((* ~~~ }{{{{(ö ~~~ }(((((o

Up here in SW Ont, I had great success with sun-impatiens as long as I kept
them partly shaded (go figure) in a 1" styrofoam with 3/4" holes drilled in
it (as Tristin said). I rinsed the dirt off the roots and dropped the plant
through the holes. I put the sytofoam in one of those mesh plant baskets on
a shelf so the water in the pond was just high enough to trap the styrofoam
so it couldn't float away. Within a month the foam and basket were not
visible, but when the sun would shine directly on them , they wilted a bit,
but came right back as soon as a little shade hit them
Gale :~)
"~ jan" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:46:08 -0600, Tristin
wrote:

I have a bunch of canna's planted aornd one section of the one pond
and they do great. Lowes one year was selling "aquatic Cannas"

There are true (& hardy) cannas, but many aquatic Cannas are simply ones
that have been conditioned. Better to do your own then pay 5 to 10 times
to
have someone do it for you. ;-) My favorite is Cleopatra.

Anothe rplanyt that does good in water is impatients.....

I've had mixed success with them, but I have seen LOVELY pictures of those
who have had GREAT success. Seems in streams they do very well. I had my
best success in floating islands.

If you take piece of foam and poke holes in it, and place an impatient
in each hole then float the foam, it makes a nice floating island of
color..I use a piecxe of monofiliament line with a small weight tied
to it,float the impatieint islands out in place and anchor with
weighted fishing line.....

Yes! And it looks very cool once they've covered the float. :-) I just
wish
I had a bigger pond, I did mine in my big pots by the front door, gave up
on heavy soil and went to water plants. I still can get color by using
some
terrestrial plants that don't mind wet roots. ~ jan

G Pearce wrote:
Up here in SW Ont, I had great success with sun-impatiens as long as I kept
them partly shaded (go figure) in a 1" styrofoam with 3/4" holes drilled in
it (as Tristin said). I rinsed the dirt off the roots and dropped the plant
through the holes. I put the sytofoam in one of those mesh plant baskets on
a shelf so the water in the pond was just high enough to trap the styrofoam
so it couldn't float away. Within a month the foam and basket were not
visible, but when the sun would shine directly on them , they wilted a bit,
but came right back as soon as a little shade hit them
Gale :~)


I would never have thought of impatiens as being "water plants" but then
thinking how easy it is to root cuttings from them in just a plain glass
of water it makes sense that they can be successful - certainly would
get away from my usual issue with them of forgetting to water them
enough - lol....I've seen hanging balls of impatiens - I guess the
effect would be pretty much the same - pretty :-)

Gill

Just look at the stems of impatients. They are mostly water.
They love wet environments, but as stated not really great infull sun,
but then mine has always done just great in this region in full sun
without the first bit of shade floating in a pond.

The ones we had around the gazeebo on the pond bank were always eat up
with bugs......and it was an never ending chore to keep them clear of
the bugs....bot those in the water onthr foam floats did great.....

I have also taken sheet foam and cut holes to fit those typical
shallow bowl hanging baskets etc and used sand or gravel with other
flowers in them as well to make floating islands, but the impatients
are by far the best ones to use.
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:11:14 +0000, Gill Passman
wrote:

G Pearce wrote:
Up here in SW Ont, I had great success with sun-impatiens as long as I kept
them partly shaded (go figure) in a 1" styrofoam with 3/4" holes drilled in
it (as Tristin said). I rinsed the dirt off the roots and dropped the plant
through the holes. I put the sytofoam in one of those mesh plant baskets on
a shelf so the water in the pond was just high enough to trap the styrofoam
so it couldn't float away. Within a month the foam and basket were not
visible, but when the sun would shine directly on them , they wilted a bit,
but came right back as soon as a little shade hit them
Gale :~)


I would never have thought of impatiens as being "water plants" but then
thinking how easy it is to root cuttings from them in just a plain glass
of water it makes sense that they can be successful - certainly would
get away from my usual issue with them of forgetting to water them
enough - lol....I've seen hanging balls of impatiens - I guess the
effect would be pretty much the same - pretty :-)

Gill



-------
I forgot more about ponds and koi than I'll ever know!

Just look at the stems of impatients. They are mostly water.

Those are the ones I used, Tristan

They love wet environments, but as stated not really great infull sun,
but then mine has always done just great in this region in full sun
without the first bit of shade floating in a pond.

I didn't mean floating shade - I had mine part way under a land plant that
hung over it

The ones we had around the gazeebo on the pond bank were always eat up
with bugs......and it was an never ending chore to keep them clear of
the bugs....bot those in the water onthr foam floats did great.....

Yeah - those on land are a problem around here as well

Gale :~)

"~ jan" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 28 Feb 2007 08:46:08 -0600, Tristin
wrote:

I have a bunch of canna's planted aornd one section of the one pond
and they do great. Lowes one year was selling "aquatic Cannas"

There are true (& hardy) cannas, but many aquatic Cannas are simply ones
that have been conditioned. Better to do your own then pay 5 to 10 times
to
have someone do it for you. ;-) My favorite is Cleopatra.

Anothe rplanyt that does good in water is impatients.....

I've had mixed success with them, but I have seen LOVELY pictures of those
who have had GREAT success. Seems in streams they do very well. I had my
best success in floating islands.

If you take piece of foam and poke holes in it, and place an impatient
in each hole then float the foam, it makes a nice floating island of
color..I use a piecxe of monofiliament line with a small weight tied
to it,float the impatieint islands out in place and anchor with
weighted fishing line.....

Yes! And it looks very cool once they've covered the float. :-) I just
wish
I had a bigger pond, I did mine in my big pots by the front door, gave up
on heavy soil and went to water plants. I still can get color by using
some
terrestrial plants that don't mind wet roots. ~ jan


I have something similar going...
at first I had pots of tarro, canna and papyrus sitting on bricks in the
middle of the pond
but now all the roots have formed one big ball and I have 3 plants growing
on one sort of island
makes catching fish out of their IMPOSSIBLE but dam it looks good
everynow and again one falls over
which is no good but tons of little tarro 'fruits' (the adventous young on
stalks) floating around
canna's are great for colour and also the frogs
luv em