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Ponds & Aquatic Plants

I'd like to question the common advice for overwintering plants

15 years ago

This discussion refers to hardy marginals such as Iris, and marsh marigolds.

The common advice seems to suggest one of two ways to overwinter them. Either drop the pot to the bottom of the pond, or dig them in soil in the garden.

In nature marsh marigolds live at the edge of streams and marshes. They must get frozen solid in zone 5.

My Iris grow just find in the garden, and they don't have particularly deep roots. Around hear, zone 5, the ground freezes several feet deep. Even if they were in a pot in the ground, the whole pot would be frozen most of the winter.

So, do you really need to move the plants? Why not just keep them where they are at the edge of the pond or stream?

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Comments (7)

johnkr
15 years ago
I've had iris in the same place on my plant shelves for years. My plant shelves are about a foot deep and I never had more then six inches of ice during the winter. So the roots of my iris were never exposed to solid ice.

I also have a variety of other plants. The only plants I sink to the bottom are my lilies. I don't think they will freeze, but my fish seem to enjoy having them at the bottom of the pond.
horton
15 years ago
You are correct madtripper, leave them on the shelf where they grow normally. Marsh Marigolds and Iris, Pickerel Rush/Weed, Penny wort, etc, have been surviving in frozen ponds for eons.
I stored native water lilies in a ten inch deep kiddie pool each winter for a few years, along with other native plants.
They froze in solid into the ice, from December to April and it did not harm any of them.
As soon as the warm air got to them in the spring, away they went again.
Now I just leave them in the shallow part of my pond all winter. The Water Lilies sit on the bottom all year round.
"Horton"
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nancyd
15 years ago
Absolutely. Leave them where they are. Mine survive just fine and we had a pretty severe freeze this past January.
sheepco
15 years ago
Thank you for this post!

I only keep one of my ponds going thru the winter, and I'm running out of room on the bottom (so many nice lilies to pick from!). This year I'm gonna leave the iris and pickeral hanging on the sides, they'll be ice covered from December to at least March, but probably not frozen solid.

What do I do with my watercress? It's bare root in the skippy now, but the skippy will soon get drained. Float it or sink it in the pond?

S

(One word of caution - not all plants are what they are said to be. So if you're not SURE it's hardy and you REALLY are attached to it, better to err on the side of caution.)
sdavis
15 years ago
Yup, tough as boots in any freeze, are many iris varieties, as are the Marsh Marigold.

Huge variations in cultivation requirements, many are sold or distributed with thoroughly inadequate cultivation information by a nursery trade where the logic is often 'the sooner they kill them the sooner they buy another one'

Terrible wastage factor especially among tropical waterlilies, which are really very easy to keep over Winter.
nancyd
15 years ago
Ok sdavis - You can't throw out a teaser and leave it at that. I want to hear how you overwinter tropical waterlilies. I've never been able to do it.
catherinet
15 years ago
Madtripper referred me to this thread, when I was asking about overwintering marginals. I'm with nancyd........don't leave us hanging sdavis.....tell us how you overwinter your tropical waterlilies.
I'm vacillating between burying them in the ground or storing them in wet sand in the basement. Unfortunately, my basement doesn't get cool enough. (60's).

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