Aquatics.--All aquatics grow best in wicker-baskets filled with earth.
Cover the surface of the earth with hay-bands twisted backwards and
forwards and round the plant, and lace it down with tarred string, so
as to keep the earth and plant from being washed out. The following
make good plants:--White Water Lily (_Nymphaea Alba_) in deep water
with muddy bottom; Yellow Water Lily (_Nuphar Lutea_); and Nuphar
Advena, having yellow and red flowers; Hottonia Palustris, bearing
flesh-coloured flowers, and Alismas, or Water Plantain, with white,
and purple and white flowers. Water Forget-me-nots (_Myosotis
Palustris_) flourish on the edges of ponds or rivers. The Water
Hawthorn (_Aponogetou Distachyon_) does well in a warm, sheltered
position, and may be grown in loam, plunged in a pan of water.
Calla Ethiopica bears pretty white flowers, so also does the
before-mentioned Aponogeton Distachyon. The Flowering Rush (_Butomus
Umbellatus_), produces fine heads of pink flowers. The Water Violet
merely needs to be laid on the surface of the water; the roots float.
For shallow water Menyanthus Trifoliata (Three-leaved Buckbean) and
Typha Latifolia (Broad-leaved Cat's Tail) are suitable. Weeping
Willows grow readily from cuttings of ripened shoots, planted in moist
soil in autumn. Spiraea does well in moist situations, near water.
Aquatics are propagated by seed sown under water: many will allow of
root-division. Tender Aquatics are removed in winter to warm-water
tanks.