Combinations of pond plants for container ponds:
Plants for containers or small ponds are a similar combination of 3 types of plants to a full-sized pond but of smaller scale:
1. Oxygenating plants for beneath the waters' surface to use mineral salts and add oxygen to the water
2. Surface cover plants to shade the water and give stability to the water temperature as well as producing interesting textures or flowers
3. Emergent pond plants that will give you colour in different seasons and interesting flowers or foliage.
Choose smaller varieties and those that are less vigorous for your container pond.
Prepared planting schemes:
- Take the worry out of choosing pond plants for your container or small pond.
- Choose our prepared combinations for container ponds for 60cm & 80cm width.
- All plants chosen for a small pond & are slow-growing plants & miniature versions of larger, more recognized varieties.
- 12 prepared planting schemes - 6 each for our 60 and 80cm container ponds
- Prepared schemes are based on a colour theme or are made as British Native only & available on our Container pond shop page
- Small plants are available for either sunny positions or for shade.
- Miniature waterlilies and Iris are for in the sun
- Shaded ponds use more small plants with foliage and texture interest.
To create your own planting scheme:
Oxygenation below water surface:
Surface cover:
- Miniature waterlilies (pygmaea) in white, pink or yellow for the tiny (60cm) pond.
- Dwarf waterlilies - Aurora, Perry's Baby Red, Xiafei for the 80cm pond.
- Floating plants - Frogbit for the tiniest pond or container in Summer.
Upright texture and flower:
- shelf pond plants to sit in the support ring - pond plants from shelf
category.
- upright plants that grow no taller than 2' 6"(75cm).
- pond plants described as small, delicate or slow growing.
- a selection of flower or foliage interest throughout the year.
- a mixture that raft across the water surface and those that grow upright.
Use the choices in our container pond planting scheme options A-K as a good guide on the best pond plants for a small pond.
Using one feature plant is also very effective:
- Control a vigorous variety in a container pond.
- Plants with a sharp rootstock can be dangerous to a liner but cannot puncture the solid material of a container pond.
- You can use waterlilies as the feature in a container pond.
- 60cm ponds can have 3x pygmaea (miniature) waterlilies, 80cm container pond 3x dwarf waterlilies.
- Use Pond waterlilies in the larger 98cm container pond.
- There is no support grid for this size container so this is our suggested method of dressing this size of pond.
- Always add an oxygenating plant under the water surface too.
Feeding the plants in a container pond:
- After their first season the flowering plants will need additional feed.
- Feed in April and again in July.
- Push one Feed balls for Aquatic plants into an 11cm or 9cm basket of compost - especially in waterlilies & Iris.
- Add one XL feed balls for aquatic plants into a 15cm or 23cm basket of pond waterlily compost.