There are 2 resources I found in Mass. for native plants - Garden in the Woods in North Framingham and Nasami Farm in Whately. I couldn't find any info on if they have aquatics at either place, but they sound like the best native plant resources in your state. If they can't help you, then your local county extension office would probably be able to help. Hope that helps! Brenda

It all depends on the plant. Some of them are really bad and some of them are innocuous. But one thing most of them have in common is the way they propagate with tubers, runners etc. They might not get through the liner seam but they tend to creep through plumbing fixtures. I've got a four foot dreadlock three inches thick that is really a root mass that I pulled out of one of my filter pipes.

Actually, a fair number of commercially available pond plants are natives: lizardtail (Saururus cernuus) fragrant water lily (Nymphaea odorata) blue flag iris (Iris versicolor) cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) giant blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) golden club (Orontium aquaticum) arrow arum (Peltandra virginica) arrowhead (Sagittaria latifolia, etc) marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) threeway sedge (Dulichium arundinaceum) cottongrass (Eriophorum) common rush (Juncus effusus) cattails (Typha latifolia, Typha angustifolia, but note that some other Typha species are not native) thalia (Thalia dealbata) -- not native to Maryland, but native elsewhere in the south dwarf horsetail (Equisetum scirpoides) -- native farther north creeping spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) -- native farther north

As warm and dry as it is I would think that for 4 inch or 1 gallon sized natives I would water at least 2 times a week for now and monitor closely over the weekend to see how they look. Water on Sunday if that is your last day there and then set timer to water on wednesday and then again on Friday. You see how they look on Saturday when you arrive and manual water again later on Sunday before you leave. In a month see if you can skip 1 watering time. I still think that depending on plants and rainfall that twice a week for this summer may be needed. One deep watering a week is possible but the rain and heat and how quickly the roots get in the new soil will dictate this. When you first plant the root ball is all that is holding moisture when it drys out if it doesn't get a new watering the plant stresses and the roots will not be as active and get into the native soil. This needs to be your goal for the immediate future (next few months) then depending on heat rainfall and mulch covering you may be able to water just on the weekends while you are there but I or no one I know of can guarantee this. Orbit, Lawn Genie, Toro and Rainbird along with several timers that aren't on the top of my head should work for your situation. Look for one that allow everyday watering and then skip days as needed. to accomadate the amount of zones you have. I would ask what kind of irrigation did you install and how many zones do you need? What is the well capacity in gpm (gallons per minute)? Many timers will have a A or B that allows multiple times a day or more varied times throughout a given week. These are type I would think would help. Know the the plants and sizes and how they are grouped and the amount of sun and or shade they get will be other factors in deciding the water frequency needed to establish and maintain. I hope this at least gets you headed in the right direction and helps you in some small way. Happy Planting David