Central Floridians love constructing water features because Water Gardens add a touch of class to your home. We create ponds and container water gardens easily by visiting our local garden centers. Look for large tubs and preformed ponds with rubber liners. Add a fountain and you have the beginnings of a beautiful aquatic garden.

However, when it is time to decorate your garden with Florida-Friendly Plants, you should consider flowering plants that grow in three different zones. Plants that “Float” in the Water, Plants that grow in the Water, and Plants that grow near the Water.

Flowering Plants that “Float” in the Water

American White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata)

American Water Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

Invasive: Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

• American White Water Lily (Nymphaea odorata). Fragrant white water lily grows from underwater rhizomes. Forms long petioles with leaves that float, and flowers extend above the leaves.
• American Water Lotus (Nelumbo lutea). Beautiful yellow flowers. Plant roots in mud, leaves & flowers extend above water. Seeds are borne in a pod that looks like a showerhead and are edible.
• Invasive: Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes). Free-floating aquatic perennial with beautiful lavender flowers, not Native, multiplies very fast, remove from natural waterways.

Aquatic Plants that Grow in the Water

Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata)

Duck Potato (Sagittaria lancifolia)

Golden Canna (Canna flacida)

• Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata). Wetlands favorite with purple inflorescences, common along waterways, great feature plant in your pond.
• Duck Potato (Sagittaria lancifolia). Beautiful arrowhead leaves, tubers are a food source for indigenous people. White flowers on long racemes rise high above foliage.
• Golden Canna (Canna flacida). Everyone adores the bright yellow flowers, lightly fragrant.  Grows well along waterways, but flowers will wilt during the heat of the day.

Plants that grow near the Water

Cattail (Typha latifolia)	Scouring-Rush Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale)	Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus prolifer)
Florida Spider Lily (Hymenocallis tridentata)

• Cattail (Typha latifolia). Flowers form dense clusters at the top of the main stem. Classic cattail seed heads among straplike leaves found along waterways in dense growth.
• Scouring-Rush Horsetail (Equisetum hyemale). Looks like a green reed that jointed with dark nodes, stems hollow, stem tips (strobilus) hold spores.
• Dwarf Papyrus (Cyperus prolifer). Daughter plants grow in an inflorescence. When heavy, it leans over onto the ground, grows and spreads, and leaves are reduced to sheaths.
• Florida Spider Lily (Hymenocallis tridentata). Bulb-forming Native, very unique fragrant white flowers with a staminal cup (white corona forming at petal base with stamens).

Select plants according to the size of your water garden. Your garden will also provide a source of water for wildlife such as birds, frogs, fish and turtles.

This post was written with the help of a Lake County Master Gardener Volunteer. Thank you!

Resources

1. Water Garden Audio. https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/ffl-minute-radio/2020-archive/july-2020/water-gardens/
2. Water Gardens. https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/design/landscaping-for-specific-sites/water-gardens/

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