Six easy-to-grow aquatic plants

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Six easy-to-grow aquatic plants

Introduce plants between April and September - waiting a few days after filling a new pond with tap water to allow time for the chlorine to disperse. Put your plants in lined plastic planting baskets, using a special pond compost such as Westland Aquatic Compost, which costs around £2.49 for 10ltr from garden centres. Top with pea gravel to weight the basket down and to stop the compost washing into the water. Place the basket in the pond to the required depth after reading the growers' instructions on the labels attached to the plants.

• Canna lilies: Few plants can match the spectacular appearance of canna lilies, which have gladiola-like blooms from mid-summer to early autumn, and can grow up to 1.8m in a season. Canna thrive in full sun and rich soil and are ideal plants for the edge of your pond.
• Rushes: To make the most of space in a tiny pond, plant tall slender plants such as slim soft rushes.
• Water lettuce: Water lettuce, which prefers sun with some shade, will add an exotic feel to your pond. It has fine feathery roots that turn from white to purple, and then black.
• Water lilies: These are a must for any pond - we like the pygmy water lily, which has tiny, star-shaped, yellow flowers, and the many different mildly scented varieties.
• Taro: Known for its large, heart-shaped leaves, Taro can be grown at the edges of a pond. It likes sun or partial shade and prefers rich moist soil. Larger varieties can grow up to 1.8m tall.
• Flame or painted nettle: Painted nettle will add intense, hot colour to the edges of a pond and is ideal for partially shady spots. It can grow up to 90cm tall, and its highly coloured nettle-like leaves come in a range of shades, from lime green and yellow, to bright red and aubergine.

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