Of all the ingredients that make up a garden – trees, boundaries, seating areas, planted beds, lawns – in my experience there is nothing that captures the interest of the visitor time and time again quite like a water feature. Place one in any plot and it is hands down the first thing our eyes are drawn to and the one we are most likely to wander towards to inspect most closely.
This unique ability for water not only to catch our interest but to hold it longer than any other landscape feature is probably something that has been hardwired into our psychology since we wandered the Serengeti. However, in our increasingly tiny gardens, ponds are often thought of as an impossible dream, something only for those with rolling lawns and acres of space. But get your planting choice right and anyone can have a stunning piece of nature in a container as small as 60cm wide, which will fit into little patios, backyards and roof terraces.
Here’s my guide to the best contenders to inhabit outdoor mini-ponds in half barrels, pots or urns, all of which will also keep the water crystal clear all summer.
There are two groups of plants that anyone attempting an outdoor aquascape should consider: surface coverers and oxygenators. These carry out essential biological functions that help keep water clear by suppressing algae growth. Surface-covering plants shield the water from UV rays, blocking out the fuel source the green stuff needs to grow. While tropical “floating” plants, such as water lettuce and water hyacinth, will do a good job of this in the short term, they will be killed off by frost come the winter. For plots in full sun, waterlilies are a better long-term solution, coming back year after year with the added bonus of dazzling flowers.
For a 60cm container pond the pure white waterlily ‘Helvola’, pinky orange ‘Aurora’ and misleadingly named pink ‘Perry’s Baby Red’ are all brilliant super-dwarf options that will fit in perfectly, with a single plant in a pot covering at least 50% of the surface. For those in a little more shade, Cape pondweed Aponogeton distachyos is pretty indispensable for fulfilling the same function, without demanding a blazingly sunny spot.
Oxygenators are plants that live beneath the surface and compete with algae for the vital carbon dioxide and nutrients they need to grow. In my book the best one for still mini-ponds is our native hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum, which can be bought in bunches and dropped in around the waterlilies.
Assorted marginal plants (upright flowers which grow out of the water) will add to the aesthetic effect by adding height and structure as optional extras. Iris versicolor, Anemopsis californica and Butomus umbellatus are all pretty flowering types for sunny spots, while Cyperus involucratus and Isolepis cernua are wonderfully architectural choices for shadier places.
If you do end up with algae problems, a quick shot of barley straw extract (sold by many water-plant suppliers) will get to work immediately and help clear it. Here’s to a summer of lazing by your (mini) pond, whatever the size of your plot.
Email James at james.wong@observer.co.uk or follow him on Twitter @Botanygeek
