WOW. Wow. I am awestruck. Sorry I have no suggestions. I like it just like it is.

We have Parrot Feather in our stream. It needs to be thinned once a year (for us). It works great as a filter. We have the liner under our rock so it can't "get away". Very difficult to completely get rid of it once it starts. I pull every trace (that I can see) out each November, yet it is lush by July each year. I think you would regret getting it started in your situation. That old saying, "leave well enough alone" (or something like that) might fit for you.

You could try watercress. It likes living in running water but it also likes cooler weather. Your set up looks tropical.

I'm sure if you look at enough aquarium plant web sites, you will find something that will serve your needs. Many of the aquarium plants can actually survive partly emerged. Arrowhead likes to have submerged roots but grows out of the water. Some sword plants (cousins of amazon sword) are similar. They would root in your pea gravel.

kalevi,
yes it is a tropical set up, never below 55F.
I was actually thinking of sword plants. I want something that actually "holds itself up", not specifically things that float.
O have a couple of aquatic/bog things that I have potted right now, Cyrtospermia hamballii, which is kinda rare, and an Anubias species that actually can grow upright and doesn;t have to be submerged. When they multiply enough I will probably try one for this application. I want more stuff like them. I just don't know what to ask for.

Hiya Miss Bihai!

Hows about some loverly Madgascar Lace plants? Amazon and Brazilian Swords would probably be very happy in your setting as well as some Crypts.

Hmmmmmmm. ? Maybe a Banana plant? (The water type)?

Lemme know. I can hook you up real quick! :-)

C with 3 Ds and a whole bunch of water plants!

Variegeted water celery and parrots feather

Hosta and impatiens in the creek, and creeping jenny off the banks,,,

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: finnpond

C with 3 D
You actually get Lace plants to grow in a pond situation?? I just now got one through the dreaded dormant period!!! lol Will they actually emerge?? Which types are you growing?? i saw some habitat pix and the specimens were at least 4 feet tall but looked like they were growing submerged. Share your secrets please!!!
Don't mean to hijack your thread Bihai but have been looking everywhere for info on this plant.lol gary

gary,
the info I read says they are hard to grow. They have them a lot at the aquarium store here, one leaf (LOL) for about $18! They never look that good.(Not $18 worth) The photos I saw on the web, they are sybmerged, but in shallow water where they kinda "lay over" in the water.

finnpond, I appreciate those suggestions, but hostas are not what I would consider an aquatic plant that would lend the "natural" look. Ditto impatiens. I have impatiens volunteers in the GH that I have been trying to eradicate for 3 years, that came in from outside. I have the sides of the pond scaped with Parrot Fern (selanginella -sp?) 3-4 different species, and Episcia. I don;t need a creeper for the banks, I need plants that will actually grow down in the stream bed and not take over.

I think I am going to try some anubias, microsorium, ceratoperis and swords. Those aremore in line with my vision. I know spathiphyllum (peace lily) will grow hydroponically, I have a plain green and a variegated that I may try.

Hi
Almost all the alocasias will aquatic adapt as well as a whole bunch of palms How do you keep things out of you pond?? Almost every tropical will adapt to semi or aquatic habit. Since you have no heat problems how about a sealing wax pallm or Nypa fruiticans palm?? Of course they get enormous but slowly. How about a Mosaic plant?? Ludwigia sediodes?? Many types of ginger and of course philos.
i would avoid submerged plants as they will way overgrow .. Crypts and many microsorium ferms are fantastic.Would assume your growing the L. spinosa in water??
C with 3 D's your growing lace plants in a pond situation?? i just recenntly got one through the dreaded dormancy Lost all my seedling to the heat. Can you get them to emerge and if so how large can they get??
Saw some pix in habitat and the were over 4 feet tall but appeared to be submerged. What dormancy system are you using ?? have a bunch more questions but I'm hijacking Bihai's thred lol gary

Where are all your orchids? If I kept a greenhouse,it would be to raise rare and unusual flowering plants.I live in a woodstove heated cabin but still,cymbidiums do fine here.Shopping too much at home depo? {{gwi:182584}}

Hi Gary.

I *DO* grow the MLP in the pond. They are submerged. I goofed when I posted to Miss Bihai ... I was just listing some cool plants that I know would thrive for her. :-)

The MLP here get to be about 2.5 - 3 ft. long. They are in the muck at the bottom of the pond without pots. The dormancy thing. Hmmmm. Some go dormant while others continue to thrive. The largest plants don't go dormant at all or don't until I bring them inside for the winter.

The smaller the plant it seems the easier it goes dormant. I believe that a decrease in nutrients and a temperature drop triggers it. They tend toward dormancy after heavy rains in the fall. At least that's my amateurish observation.

An increase in nutrients, light and temperature brings 'em back to life. :-) Hope that helps some, Gary. Apologies for making it sound like I have them growing as marginals or anything other than submerged.

Sorry for the detour Bihai. We now return you to your thread. LOL!

C3D

Guys,
I don't believe in the concept of "thread hijacking". I appreciate the way threads "twist" and "turn". New ideas come out of it and its only good, so hijack away!!!!!

Gary, I actually have 4 Red Sealing Wax palms, but they are all planted terrestrially around the greenhouse in other locales. You know I have a few Joey altirrons and a Joey magnifica too. I have a lot of philodendrons, but I prefer to keep those on totems up by the walls of the greenhouse to promote that " enclosed jungle effect". The Lasia spinosa is in another greenhouse pond (I have a separate pond and a stream/still pool)

NYwoodsman, silly man, your cymbidiums are lovely, but we grow those out in the yard here with the Nun's Cap Orchids. My CYms are blooming now outside. The Phaius are all in spike, will open in late Feb/early March. As for "greenhouse" orchids, I have between 300-400 orchids, mainly vandaceous. They like the high heat and humidity and bright full sun. Currently about 10 Vandas are in bloom, as well as Arachnis Maggie Oe Red Ribbon, Bulbophyllum medusae, 2 Rhyncostylis, about 15 phals, 6-7 dends, a couple of catts and epidenderums, and my big vanilla orchid just finished blooming. I have several epidendrums creeping along beside the stream already. A few have sent roots over the edge into the water. Its a cool look and I want them to spread.
As far as rare plants I can't grow outdoors, well, I have my share of those. Anthurium regale, Licuala orbicularis, Licuala chordata, Kerriodoxa elegans, Pelagadoxa henryana, variegated monsteras, variegated Rhapis palms, a few rare Philodendrons and anthuriums, some hard to get Rhaphidopheras, Ylang Ylang, Salacca magnifica, Licuala mapu....actually, none of those came from Home Depot (although they have been known to sell some of those more southerly here in FL). Actually, you shouldn't discount Home Depot and other box stores like it...at least here in FL (I don't know about your HD or such places in New York, I imagine they only carry petunias and such) they do tend to carry a lot of the more tropical and unusual plants that before were considered "collector" plants, because people in Florida expect that given our climate, and because they want to break into that market. Taccas, dischidia, epiphyllums, unusual palms, unusual Hoyas...this last summer our HD and/or Lowes were carrying Plumeria pudica, Philodendron mamei, Philodendron gloriosa...I even found a Philodendron warscewiczi and an Allspice tree at a local box store. I didn't buy any of these, because I already had collected them from other sources. But in the past Walmart here has sold 3 gallon 5-6 ft tall Alpinia purpuratas, Musa velutina, large growing heliconias...you can find lots of bargains at the box stores sometimes.

C3D
Thanks for the info. on the MLP. Isn't it funny that a plant so common in culture is so rare in nature?? Also odd that a submerged water plant would come from a bulb in the first place.According to the Kew gardens they occur in only three tributaries on the SE slope of a chain of mountains in Madagascar.Kew also listed them as "Bog" plants which suggests to me that the rivers dry up. About one paragraph of info and some pix of collecting but staged pix.Plants were on the ground but I could barely see the limestone channel in the background. No temps, pH, season, nada lol.
A very kind man on the Botany forum was actually going to that area of Madagascar and was going to send me some pix but never heard anymore. Anyway the one I planted last March went dormant at the end of Aug. I figured I had yet another casualty but in late Dec it woke up It's now standing 20 inches above the gravel and the leaves are perfect and very deep green. if it flowers for me again this year I'm going to count it a success!! I've killed so many of these gorgeous plants in the past
If your interested 3 new species of Aponogetons have been discovered in Australia and maybe a new genus in New Guinea.
nywoodsman You should be ashamed!!! orchids are very delicate plants that can only be grown by experts LOL
Love the white landscape!! Is that the stuff they call snow?? lol i do almost all my shopping at the bos stores .recently found both a black and a white bat plant
for 6.95 at Walmart . Beautiful CYMs by the way Show that pic over on the orchid forum .I can't grow them for the opposite reason too hot for too long
gary

Hi Gary.

Interesting about the MLP. Mine start to go dormant in August / September too.

I know that orchids are very delicate plants and can only be grown by experts. I have many things going against me on that. I'm not an expert on anything especially planty things; I don't know the proper terms for most plant thingies; I live in Ohio where the white stuff abounds these days! Oh no. I don't grow orchids, do I Miss Bihai? ;-)

{{gwi:182586}}

How about Ruella brittonia 'Katie', Bog Lily (crinium) or maybe Tropical Pickeral. Link to photos of all three. They have some height and take sun or shade, 0 - 5" water depth, hardy in your zone inside or outside of greenhouse.

Beautiful orchids nywoodsman and C3D.

CT

Here is a link that might be useful: Tropical Water Plants

Chickie,
that is one of my favorite orchids. I have a Vanda blooming now that's another one of my faves, V. Jose Coronado. I am a sucker for the 2 tone type vandas!
{{gwi:182587}}
I picked up a few cheapie plants at Petsmart today for the stream. We'll see what happens.

Oooo! Those are nice, Bihai. Nice orchids too, NYwoodsman.

Hmmmmm. Maybe we can have another orchid forum here? LOL!

Do you have fish in your pond/stream? Your GH looks so beautiful! A lot of work to put it all together and keep the plants looking so happy.

C3D

I have a suggestion that may seem odd but it has worked in our area. A friend has a similar set up outdoors and the stream is gravel as your is and we have planted Yellow water iris (I. pseudoacorus)and its purple/blue cousin. Both irises have done great, neededing to be divided about every other year. Since they are in the water they get tall and make alovely display. Hope this helps.

That vanda still has the price tag on it. LOL $26.09 or something like that. Or maybe it's just a hitchhiker tag.

I'm not sure this is what you are looking for but I grow sedum in the rocks that line the sides of my stream. Theres no dirt there, I just stuck the sedum down in the rocks and it seems to find enough moisture. I've had this same sedum in the garden and ripped it out because it took over but it seems well behaved among the rocks.

{{gwi:182588}}

{{gwi:182590}}

I have also planted baby tears in the rocks just at the edge of the water line. I wrapped the roots in a piece of quilt batting and stuck the roots in the crevises. It did quite well, unfortunately it is an annual here.

{{gwi:182591}}

jeaner - those look great. A red sedum would give it a more tropical feel for a FL pond.

That sedum does look great!
Yes that's just a hitcher tag on the Vanda. I have no idea where that came from! That wasn't the price of that plant.
I got a Java Fern, what I think is a variegated sword, a few others (some didnlt have tags) I will post some photos later

OmG....Bihai...you have morel mushoom in your garden...last picture..mid to lower right corner...a golf ball looking thing... that's a morel mushroom...they are very tasty...fried them with butter....real tasty.. have a good flavor..hard to find in the wild...up here in MN.... the harvesting season is in April and only for 2 weeks.....ooohh you lucky....and chance of newbie to find it is like finding a deer in the middle of city....hard...to find....oh and btw beautifull garden......

Looks like a piece of coral to me.

Bihai,

There is a species of Clivia that grows in streambeds...also I've seen certain Callas planted in ponds too.

If you want to go real exotic, try some different species Disas or even the big hybrids too.

-Ron-

Hi:

What are those green big leafed plants. Some kind of Calladium?

I think you are probably talking about the Alocasia. I don't grow caladiums in the greenhouse (and barely grow any outside). I have many different alocasias in my greenhouse and outdoors. The ones in these photos are largely Alocasia macrorhizza albo-variegata, variegated Alocasia gagnea, Alocasia corazon and alocasia sanderiana. If you take a look at my tradepage you can see the different ones I grow.

Your greenhouse garden is stunning! I'm so jealous....