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Questions & Comments of General Interest

Email: ​sjpondplants@gmail.com

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Q.  Most of the plants are for full sun to partial shade. Will they grow in full sun? Our pond gets sun all day long. -P.W.

A. Basically, it means the plant will likely do poorly if planted in a place that is mostly shady. For a detailed answer, see https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-full-sun-partial-shade-1402372. Specifically, see the section "Many Plants Are Flexible."

Each page on this St. James Pond Plants site contains a link to more information. To search even further than that, google the scientific name, such as Callicarpa Americana (American Beautyberry).  -R.O'B.

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Q. Given the current low level of our pond (down approximately 12-18 inches from normal in summer 2019), where should we plant the shallow water plants?  -B.F.

A. In 2019, Diana Rashash, PhD, Jacksonville office of NC Cooperative Extension., wrote:

I face this issue myself all the time, as I have a "leaky" stormwater pond to deal with.  When it rains, the water level goes up, then it drains down to its normal elevation.  With continued dry weather, it continues to drain, but it is through soil infiltration.  This causes a wider range of water movement and bank exposure.

Plants for such ponds must be able to handle both wet and dry periods. Such "muddy" edges are sometimes submerged, sometimes not (as during a drought). Of the 14 plants in the 2019 St. James sale, 6 are for muddy edges: cardinal flower, coastal joe-pye weed, scarlet rose mallow, shallow sedge, swamp sunflower, and soft rush. The soft rush also thrives in the shallow zone, making it especially well suited for ponds (like mine) that experience a wide range of water levels.

This NCSU website may be helpful: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/.  It is best to enter the formal (Latin) species name into the search box. A page of information will appear about the plant's characteristics.

One advantage of planting during a drought is that you can add organic matter into the soil prior to planting in areas that are typically submerged.

As when planting almost anything, but especially important here, make sure the soil stays moist while these muddy zone plants are working to establish themselves.  However, don't give them too much of a good thing. If these young plants are totally submerged for an extended period of time, they can drown.  As they get larger and established, they are better able to handle extremes in water levels.

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Website builder's (RO'B) notes, May 2021.

  • Dr. Rashash mentioned adding "organic matter" to the soil, but what is that specifically? In email exchanges, she supported the use of Black Kow, stating this: "Black Kow does not contain fecal coliform [which is harmful to ponds]. To be sold to the public, it has to qualify as a class A biosolid. That includes making it safe enough that you can put it into a child's sandbox and have them play in it.  And yes, that is exactly how it was once described to me by a regulator."

  • The 14 plant species being sold in 2021 include four recommended for the "muddy" zone and four for the "shallow/muddy" zone. However, regardless of planting zone, young plants need to thrive, not just survive, so be vigilant in making sure that their roots never dry out. Mulching helps.

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Q. I'm buying seashore mallow, iris, and scarlet rose mallow (bought a bunch last time … awesome).  I’ll be out of town for a week or so after planting. Is it necessary to water them until established, particularly if this dry weather continues? -A.B.

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A. I'm no botanist or horticulturist, but think I have enough experience to handle this one.

We have 140 feet of pond frontage. Previous pondside vegetation was "all-volunteer" (not turf). In early spring 2020, I  euthanized everything with an aquatic herbicide + surfactant (CattPlex + Plex Mate) and later whacked it all down to soil height and removed it. (Do not dig out.) Then I paid a college student in biomedical engineering I am mentoring to plant hundreds of pickerelweed and blue flag iris near the water and a few dozen American beautyberry and coastal sweet pepperbush on dry banks. He basically just stuck them into the ground. I hand watered them every day while they were in their containers and then after planting almost every day the rest of the summer and into the fall. The pickerelweed (protected by turtle fencing!) took off and was showy within a month. 90% of the iris have survived, but they are doing the "sleep, creep, leap" thing for the first three years. All of the beautyberry and pepperbush have survived.

Two weeks ago, we purchased 18 lantanas from The Garden Center. The pro there stressed that virtually all soils here are fast draining (because they contain little clay and lots of sand), so we must make sure that new plantings are well watered—for the first year. She said the biggest cause of plant failure here, by far, is poor watering, and because the soil drains well, overwatering is rarely a problem.

Of course, this is especially true for plants that will normally be in shallow and muddy pondscape zones. Our pond level still seems to be supporting the pickerelweed and iris, but I am sprinkling them a little every day during our current drought. Up the bank, however, I am now back to hand watering the beautyberry and pepperbush 3 times a week, because our irrigation system does not hit them well enough for new plantings. -RO'B

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