Date: Fri 29-Aug-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLK

Quick Words:

Suburba-Gardener-Bleach

Full Text:

SUBURBAN GARDENER: TRYING TO PLANT AROUND WATER

By Anthony C. Bleach

The Perennial Plant Association has chosen Salvia, "May Night," as the plant

of the year. The International Dendrology Society has chosen the Katsura as

the tree of the year. And, after weeding a bank planting of Junipers for the

sixth time this summer, I have chosen Equisitum , Horsetails, as The Weed of

the Millennium.

No wonder it has survived longer than any plant on the face of the earth! It

has rhizomes that run under any obstacle and multiply exponentially every time

you snap them. I have wept with agronomists at the Connecticut Agricultural

Experiment Station as we agreed it is the horticultural equivalent of the

Eboli virus. So why, why should anyone recommend it as "a dramatic curtain

behind a piece of pond statuary?" This is the Kudzu vine of New England, for

goodness sake!

Well, Carrol Bishop Miller in Horticulture did suggest that its "racing

rhizomes can be corralled in a container." She didn't write how you would stop

the spores germinating. But her other choices for "Natives for the Water's

Edge," I found helpful for beginners like me.

As a background screen to a pond the familiar and dramatic common cattail

colonizes densely by rhizomes. In late spring and summer the sleek sword-like

leaves are joined by stiff stalks bearing terminal spikes of densely packed

flowers - golden, pollen-dusty, short-lived male flowers on top, a velvety

soft, brown cylinder of female flowers beneath. A single spike can hold 20,000

seeds. Cattails flourish in full or part sun, in any muck you have.

The southern blue flag ( Iris virginica ) has imposing leaves as well as

height. The flowers appear in mid-spring, are four inches across, their lilac

falls veined and brushed with yellow. Copper iris ( I. fulva ) has brick

colored flowers with outstretched petals that give a flat-topped look.

Irises are best set out in fall to ensure a vigorous show in the spring. If

they are not under water, irises should be mulched.

A less familiar water lover is the sweet flag ( Acorus calumus ). Greenish

yellow aroid flower spikes are sheathed by aromatic sword-like leaves.

"Variegatus" has bold cream stripes on the leaves. These have a citrus

fragrance which persists in dried flower arrangements. Sweet flag forms dense

clumps in sun or shade in damp soil or shallow water.

Arrowhead ( Sagitaria latifolia ) has triangular, tropical-looking leaves and

snow white flowers, carried all summer in whorls on tall stems. Its roots form

numerous potato-like tubers which feed water fowl and beavers. Arrowhead

adapts to a small pool or even a muddy pot on the patio.

Pickerel weed has shiny, heart-shaped leaves topped with pale blue spikes of

flowers that last from late spring until late fall. Native ferns are an

especially graceful complement to these spiky plants.

Grasses are good, too. Spartina pectinata, Aureomarginata , a variegated

version of the North American cord grass, is a fountain of gold whose roots

will anchor an eroding bank. A less aggressive choice would be the dainty

tufted hair grass, with the wonderfully euphonious scientific name of

"Dechampsia caespitosa."

The most colorful choices for a water garden would be the brilliant yellow

marsh marigold ( Caltha palustris ) or the 7-foot swamp sunflower ( Helianthus

angustifolius ); the flamboyant, hugely flowered swamp rose mallow ( Hibiscus

moscheutos ); Lobelias: cardinalis , which is red; siphilitica, deep blue; and

finally the purple-red florets of ironweed ( Veronia spp ) and the pink puff

balls of the imposing joe-pye weed.

And, as Carol Bishop concluded, "Surely Monet would approve."

(Anthony C. Bleach coordinates the horticulture program at Naugatuck Valley

College in Waterbury. The college is offering a new course this fall, called

"Advanced Greenhouse Management.")