Pond plants for dragonflies & damselflies

Best pond plants for dragonflies and damselflies:

Tall stemmed emergent pond plants for dragonflies and damselflies:

• Water Iris, Lythrum salicaria, Butomus umbellatus, Eriophorum angustifolium Pontederia and Cyperus species growing from pond plant shelves help larvae climb up & out of the water.
• We have a Pond planting collection for dragonflies containing 3 upright plants in 11cm baskets.

Watch our video Damselflies and Dragonflies - Larvae & emerging adults

How dragonfly become adults using pond plants:

• Dragonfly and damselfly larvae need to leave the pond water to emerge as adults.
• They need to be in dry conditions to open their wings as adults.
• Larvae climb up & out of the water into dry conditions by climbing up the stem of an upright emergent pond plant.
• Plant Butomus umbellatus, Cyperus, Iris, Lythrum salicaria Pontederia species on the shallow pond shelves.
• The larvae will secure itself onto the stem
• Then they push themselves out of their final larvae casing through the slit behind the head area of the casing.
• They leave the last of their larvae casings abandoned on the upright pond plant stem.
• The new adult will bask in the sunshine, gain colour and strength in their wings and is then ready to fly.
• This emerging process often happens early in the morning and can take a couple of hours.

This sequence of images of a dragonfly larvae on pond plants was taken in our warm exhibit tunnel in late May 2016:

• Damselfly casings are longer and thinner than dragonfly casings
• You can still see the 3 gills as a different colour on the tip of the tail of the abandoned damselfly casing below.

Dragonfly & damselfly mating rituals:

Watch our video Damselflies and Dragonflies - Copulatory wheel and ovipositing (egg laying)

• Adults will fly for a number of weeks once they emerge.
• They will rest on tall pond plant leaves like this Pontederia stem and bask in the sunshine or swoop over the water in a ritual mating routine in search of a partner.

• The copulatory wheel of mating takes place using any upright pond plant stems like these Typha or Pontederia species or also on waterlilies.
• Adult dragonfly or damselflies never fly far from water.
• Dragonflies and damselflies can use waterlilies as a perch during mating as long as they remain out of the water.

Dragonflies & damselflies oviposit (lay) their eggs using pond plants as support:

• Once mating is complete the female will lower her ovipositor (tail) down into the water to release her eggs. She never allows her entire body to get wet.
• Females lay their eggs back into the mud at the edge of the pond or into the water around the marginal pond plants or waterlilies.
• Dragonflies like a sunny, sheltered pond and adults will fly some distance to colonize a new pond without help from man.

Watch our video Showing a dragonfly laying her eggs on the Nursery:

• She rests on the waterlily leaves and pushes her tail (ovipositor) down into the water.
• You can see it pulsing as she pushes out the eggs.
• She remains for a good minute in the same position and repeatedly lays her eggs into the water.
• Her wings flutter at times so she can keep her balance and not fall into the water.

Dragonfly larvae:

• The egg develops into the larvae stage or nymph under the water.
• They emerge from the egg as tadpoles and moult almost immediately after hatching.
• A dragonfly catches and eats live prey as a larvae.
• It moults a further 5–14 times until it becomes full-sized.
• Dragonfly or damselfly larvae will live beneath the water surface for years eating mosquito larvae and other small creatures.
• Then it is time to climb out on the upright emergent pond plants.
• In the last few months of their lives they go through the same cycle as their parents.

For pond plants for dragonflies & damselflies - see below:

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