We have a small pond in need of some help. Since it is a man made pond, no natural pond vegetation is anywhere close by. I decided this year to try to correct that problem.
Earlier on, about a month ago, I ordered twenty-five Pickerel Weed (Pontederia cordata) cuttings from Van Bourgandien Nursery.
When they arrived, they were small pieces of roots about 1-1/2 inches long and the thickness of your thumb…they didn’t look very impressive. Since it was pretty cold outside, I put them into a bucket with 6″ of potting soil and added water until it was saturated. I was trying to imitate the natural growing conditions of the Pickerel Weed.
Here is a photo I took yesterday of those cuttings:
They have made good growth and look like real plants now:
To plant them, I just dug away some mud along the shore and stuck them in:
This summer I hope to see a wonderful display of blue flowers from this shoreline plant:
(image from the University Of Kentucky)
It’s still early enough to order cuttings for use in your wetland area. Plus, this plant is a native to our area and you won’t be introducing any noxious weeds into our local environment.
Bob
Pickerel Weed…
…
Trackback by University Update — April 24, 2007 @ 6:12 pm