How Many Water Plants Can I Have in my Pond?
Pond and Water Plant Guidelines
"How many water plants can I have?" is a very common question. There are no hard set rules - but we've built a lot of ponds and streams over the years and these are the guidelines we have created for the nicest look.
For Ponds:
- At least one marginal aquatic plant for every 5' of pond edge
- At least one bog plant for every 5' of pond edge in addition to the marginal plants
- At least one water lily for every 50 square feet of pond water area with depths of 2' or less
- At least one submerged oxygenators (in Water Garden Ponds only) for every 100 square feet of pond water area
- At least one floating plant (Hyacinth, etc) per every 10 square feet of pond water surface area
For Waterfalls and Streams:
- At least one marginal aquatic plant for every 5' of stream edge
- At least one bog plant for every 5' of stream edge in addition to the marginal plants
Again, these are simply "Rules of Thumb". More or less water plants can always be planted to suit your taste. You're encouraged to experiment.
