Need a fun new project to beautify your pond landscape AND improve water quality? We have the perfect project for you! Flex your “wet” green thumb this season and plant your pond to better water quality.
Lush Plantings Boost Natural Filtration
Imagine a pond filtration system that helps maintain water quality and produces beautiful blooms. That is exactly what you achieve when you increase density and variety of gorgeous, water-loving pond plants. Lush plantings of semiaquatic (marginal or bog plants) and aquatic pond plants effectively improve water quality by utilizing excess nutrients that would normally contribute to poor water quality.
Benefits of Enhanced Natural Filtration
In essence, pond plants act as a natural wastewater management system for your pond. Plants extract such pond pollutants as organic waste, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate before they can accumulate and negatively affect water quality. This natural filtration restores balance to the pond environment by increasing the ability to process or export excess nutrients. The result is cleaner, clearer, and healthier pond water.
Plant Selection
When increasing and diversifying your plantings, be sure to include plants from each of the following groups
- Submerged Plants: These aquatic plants offer the added benefit of supplying vital oxygen to pond fish.
- Marginal or Bog Plants: These plants thrive in shallow water near the pond perimeter. They help soften the hardscape and create a natural transition from pond to garden.
- Floating Plants: Often used as part of a natural algae-control regimen, as they excel in filtering excess nutrients while shading out aggressive algae growth.
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