How much will you miss outdoor gardening in the next few months?

Oh my goodness what a beautiful job you've done! Just a personal selection of water plants I wouldn't want to be without...Zantedeschia aethiopica (arum lily) , Iris ensata ( on en a déjà parlé), Lobelia cardinalis, Carex testacea, Carex Evergold , Houttynia 'Chameleon'. There are many more good foliage plants like Acorus variegata, Cyperus, Darmeria and Oenanthe javanica but they can be horribly invasive as are most native water plants. If mossies are a problem get a few little guppies from an aquarium shop. Lovely, tiny carnivorous fish . You won't lack for frogspawn!

 

That is very sweet of you! Thank you. Vraiment, tu nous combles!

In fact, your speedy reply has beaten me to it, I was going to add a correction: when I wrote “awaiting your excellent suggestions of aquatic plants”, I meant to write “awaiting the implementation of your excellent suggestions of aquatic plants”, since we had certainly NOT forgotten them … but here you are now making even further suggestions!

Our next purchase is going to be at least three of the plants you have named.

We’ll keep you posted, of course!

 

@noisette47 - decidely sloppy today! Please note further correction to the above: should have read: "since we had certainly NOT forgotten them" ...

 

We'll have to change this thread title to 'How much will you enjoy outdoor gardening in the next few months'! Is there anyone who doesn't get excited once February is past and all the glories of spring and summer are ahead of us? It's especially true here, where despite the best efforts to grow cheerful winter plants, nothing beats the Magnolias, Wisterias, perennials bursting back to life, peach and cherry blossom.......and all regularly and generously watered.

 

How right you are in your optimism! Also, at this time of year, I love the change of LIGHT! ... which I will attempt to capture for you in the next few hours/days (?) whenever it presents itself the way I remember it from other tides of March ...

By the way, can some of the marginals you mention thrive under some 20 or 30 centimetres of water?

 

Hmmm...30cm would be pushing them to the limit. Certainly I've found the Iris and Lobelia prefer their roots in the water but the stems above. If there's no shelf, I wonder whether some of the trendy, tall, square pots half-filled with gravel or stones, then topped up with soil and the plant (with largish round pebbles on top to prevent the froggies from unplanting them) placed on the bottom of the pond would work? Would the structure stand the weight? All this business about growing water plants in mesh baskets is a bit outdated.