page_title: Water garden
section_title: Aquatic flora
hierarchical_section_title: Water garden / Aquatic flora
caption_attribution_description: Nelumbo nucifera — Lotus; flower. Blooming in the 'Japanese Garden' of Lotusland — in Montecito, near Santa Barbara in southern California. The source of the estate's name "Lotusland" − given by its owner/designer Madame Ganna Walska (1887-1984).
context_page_description: Water gardens, also known as aquatic gardens, are a type of water feature. They can be defined as any interior or exterior landscape or architectural element whose primary purpose is to house, display, or propagate a particular species or variety of aquatic plant. The primary focus is on plants, but they will sometimes also house ornamental fish, in which case the feature will be a fish pond.
  Water gardening is gardening that is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Although water gardens can be almost any size or depth, they are typically small and relatively shallow, generally less than twenty inches in depth. This is because most aquatic plants are depth sensitive and require a specific water depth in order to thrive. The particular species inhabiting each water garden will ultimately determine the actual surface area and depth required.
context_section_description: Water garden plants are divided into three main categories: submerged, marginal, and floating.
  Submerged plants are those that live almost completely under the water, sometimes with leaves or flowers that grow to the surface such as with the water lily. These plants are placed in a pond or container usually 1–2 ft (0.30–0.61 m) below the water surface. Some of these plants are called oxygenators because they create oxygen for the fish that live in a pond. Examples of submerged plants are:
  Water lily (Hardy and Tropical)
  Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)
  Featherfoil (Hottonia palustris)
  Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum)
  Shining pondweed (Potamogeton lucens)
  Marginal plants are those that live with their roots under the water but the rest of the plant above the surface.  These are usually placed so that the top of the pot is at or barely below the water level.  Examples of these are:
  Iris or Flag (Iris spp.)
  Water-crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans)
  Bulrush (Scirpus lacustris)
  Cattail (Typha latifolia)
  Taro (Colocasia esculenta)
  Arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia)
  Lotus (Nelumbo spp.)
  Pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata)
  Floating plants are those that are not anchored to the soil at all, but are free-floating on the surface.  In water gardening, these are often used as a provider of shade to reduce algae growth in a pond.  These are often extremely fast growing/multiplying.  Examples of these are:
  Mosquito ferns (Azolla spp.)
  Water-spangle (Salvinia spp.)
  Water-clover (Marsilea vestita)
  Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes)
  Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)
  Some areas of the United States do not allow certain of these plants to be sold or kept, as they have become invasive species in warmer areas of the country, such as Florida and California.
caption: Lotus, Nelumbo nucifera
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 20D", "Image DateTime": "2006:09:15 10:19:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "114", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/100", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Landscape Mode", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:09:15 10:19:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:09:15 10:19:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ApertureValue": "162885/32768", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "85", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3504", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2336", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}