Exotic, unusual aquatic plants can give a garden pond a particularly exquisite style. The price for putting beauties from distant countries in the pond is usually the necessary relocation in winter. We'll show you how it's done.
How do I overwinter exotic pond plants?
In order to overwinter exotic, cold-sensitive pond plants such as lotus flowers, water poppies or papyrus, they must be brought into the warm. Place them in containers with water and substrate at temperatures of 2-10°C in moderately bright rooms and regularly top up with evaporated water.
Beautiful, but sensitive to cold
Are you dreaming of an elegant lotus, delicate water poppy or southern-looking papyrus in your pond? Then just have the courage to create an exclusive oasis! However, it should be borne in mind that these exotic beauties are more difficult to cultivate in our latitudes because of their tropical or subtropical origin. They can't stay outside in the winter, so they have to be planted out in the summer and brought into the warmth in the fall.
Here is a list of attractive but not hardy pond plants:
- Lotus flower – majestic, tall, creamy white flowers
- Algae fern – cute scaled, finely lobed, densely growing floating leaves
- Shell flower – structurally attractive, shell-shaped hollowed leaf rosettes on the water
- Water poppy – pastel yellow, delicate funnel flowers
- Biennial water spike – flat, oval floating leaves, upright, white spike flowers
- Papyrus – African swamp perennial, exotic appearance with delicate leaf clusters
The wintering
Overwintering these exotic pond plants can be a bit complicated. After all, like cold-sensitive potted plants, they cannot simply be placed indoors in a planter - after all, they also need their watery living conditions indoors. With marsh grasses like papyrus, you can still work with transplanting them into the pot and watering them a lot.
This is more difficult with floating plants from shallow and deep water zones. They can now really only survive completely submerged in water. Of course, aquarists are smart - they can at least put smaller floating plants such as water hyacinth or milfoil in the aquarium.
For larger plants like the lotus flower, you need a larger tub or bucket that you fill with some substrate and water. Place the container in a 2-10°C cool, moderately bright room and regularly refill any evaporated water.
