Go Tropical!

Bring the tropics home to your pond with colorful plants.

By Eric Wood & Tamara Taylor

Have you ever given any thought to what makes the tropics so inviting? Is it the steamy climate, or maybe the beat of the music that fills the air? For many people it's the plants. The word "tropics" makes us think about rich colors and plush, overgrown plants. The tropics without plants would be lacking in its "tropical" appeal.

It's Never too Cold for the Tropics
Here in Kansas, we get our share of hot days, but we are a long way from being tropical … at least in the practical sense. However, we can create the illusion of the tropics in our water features, if we use some good judgment. Tropical plants will have a shorter season in our Midwestern water gardens, but the spectacular color they provide makes it worth it. Waiting for the water to reach 65 or 70 F° is where the good judgment comes into play. Obviously, we are not always patient in our life choices, but this is one that you must wait out. Cold water can be the death of a tropical plant.

Unique Characteristics and Vibrant Colors
Tropical water lilies add color to your water garden that would never be possible with hardy varieties. They come as day bloomers, which are open from mid-morning to late afternoon, and night bloomers that bloom from dusk until mid-morning. Night blooming lilies are not only beautiful, but they're especially great for those who work during the day. Some of the unique characteristics tropical lilies offer are brilliant colors, and flowers that are generally held high above the water. Their leaves are most often dentate or toothed and many varieties reproduce viviparously. Leaf color varies from different shades of green to deep maroon, and many are blotched with deep purple markings, adding interest to your pond. A rainbow of color is available when choosing a tropical lily – from the lightest to the darkest shades of pink, purple, blue, red, white, yellow, salmon, and even green. If you want to dazzle your gardening friends, add a Greensmoke tropical lily to your pond. This day bloomer offers soft shades of yellow, green and subtle hints of blue.

Livin' On The Edge
While tropical lilies add interest to the water's surface, tropical marginals will give the pond's edge a refreshing look. An elegant plant that will add height to your pond is the Egyptian papyrus (Cyperus papyrus). Measuring in between 12 and 15 feet tall, Egyptian papyrus will need to be shielded from the wind.

This plant has a rich history too. It was used by the Egyptians to make paper and it is also said to have been the hiding place used by baby Moses' mother to conceal him from Pharaoh (Exodus 2:5). If your pond is not big enough to handle this plant, you might want to try dwarf papyrus (Cyperus haspen), which grows 12 to18 inches in height.

Fiery Colors, Unusual Shapes
Since the tropics have a certain flavor for deep fiery colors and unusual shapes, try adding purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis colorata 'Exotica') and dragon tongue (Hemigraphis repanda) to your water feature. Both plants have dark green/ burgundy top leaves with burgundy/red/purple underneath. Purple waffle plant leaves are egg-shaped with small indentations, hence the name "Waffle" while dragon tongue leaves are narrow and serrated. Both plants have tiny white blooms, and although these plants do not like temperatures below 50 F°, they divide well by stem cuttings. The excellent color they add to your pond makes up for the short season that you might have in your area. Take some cuttings and bring them into the house to enjoy the rest of the year.

Check Out Cannas
Get bold, and try adding cannas to your garden pond. That's right, cannas. They add height, texture, and unbelievable color to your pond. Can you go out and buy a canna and instantly put it in your pond? No, the plant has to first be acclimated to an aquatic environment. You can usually buy them in the aquatic department of your local garden center or nursery, or you can spend a little time to train them to love the water yourself. Cannas can be adjusted to becoming water plants by slowly increasing the amount of water you set them in, over a period of a month or so. Then, place them in your pond with the water no deeper than 3 to 4 inches over the top of the pot. Create the illusion that they are deeper by piling rocks around the container. While cannas are usually only good for one season in the pond, they are awesome and worth it.

Natural Born Filters
For those of you in the Northern states, water hyacinths are usually one of the most popular tropical plants around. They are a fun plant because they float freely in the pond. When you couple this with the fact that they are usually the cheapest tropical plant available and they multiply like crazy, you can see why they are so popular. However, they do offer true benefits to the garden pond. Those roots that are floating freely work like straws to drink excess nutrients from the water. Therefore, they do wonders for helping clear up an algae bloom. Then there is the shade that they provide for your fish in the heat of the summer, not to mention the surface coverage benefit in reducing the growth of algae. And getting them ready for winter is the easiest part – throw them into the compost pile.

Hyacinths love warm water and lots of sunshine. When crowded together, they produce beautiful lavender blooms. Water Lettuce, another floating aquatic plant, likes warm water and shade – they multiply like hyacinths, but do not bloom.

Water Bluebells are a nice touch along the pond's edge. They are shorter plants, with an average height of 6 to12 inches. One of the things they have to offer is their nice, full, willow-like foliage. This makes them a nice filler plant for that space in a cluster where you want fullness and color. They produce petunia-like blooms ranging from white, to shades of pink, and even dark lavender. If you have never tried them in your pond, you are in for a pleasant surprise.

Try It … You Might Like It No matter which tropical plants you decide to try in your water gardens, they are all wonderful additions to the color scheme of a water feature. Coming home to the tropics is a great thing that you can make happen right in your own backyard.