One of my favorite plant groupings I've seen was a streamside planting of Lysichiton and Narcissus cyclamineus at Bodnant Garden in Wales. Elsewhere they have candelabra primroses and ferns growing together, I think. The true species N. cyclamineus is hard to find for sale as it doesn't propagate vegetatively (and I'm not sure Narcissus section cyclamineus hybrids would have the same water tolerance), but it's pretty regularly in NARGS seed exchanges, and J.L. Hudson carried seed for a few years. -joe Southwest Virginia, where 2nd-year Crocus and Narcissus seedlings are sending up leaves On Thu, Nov 26, 2020, 8:11 AM Johannes-Ulrich Urban via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > Reading the many comments and suggestions for pondside planting one > observation I made many years ago crosses my mind. > > Narcissus pseudonarcissus and Narcissus poeticus growing and flowering > together in a very wet meadow in the French Massif Central in May. An > awesome sight stretching for miles and filling the air with perfume. In > garden settings they cope more or less with normal garden soil but in this > particular meadow they grew in waterlogged heavy soil, some standing in few > centimeters deep in water. > Especially Narcissus pseudonarcissus can be a tricky plant to grow and may > be difficult to get hold of as the true species. > Other wet growing European bulbs are Fritillaria meleagris and Leucojum > vernum of which I have also seen the latter standing in water. > The same applies to the Southern European Narcissus jonquilla and N. > cordubensis. > > You mentioned that you get regular frost, so the South African winter > growing bulbs may not survive but maybe you could try Onixotis triquetra, > now called Wurmbea stricta. You find a good description and photos of it in > the WIKI. > > It may be useful to plant at least one deciduous tree to create some > shade. Many wet growing plants prefer shade. But plant it far away from > the pond so that it does not shade the pond itself. And also on the > downside of the prevailing wind not to clog up the pond with fallen leaves. > Maybe Taxodium distichum? > > There are many other bulbs which I cannot cite from memory, but reading > their descriptions it often says something like: grows in seasonally wet > depressions or the South African vlei which is a shallow seasonal pool. > Don’t Californian tuberous Delphinium grow like this? > > One bulb NOT to plant is Aponogeton distachyus. It is a summer dormant > aquatic tuber but it is extremely invasive. With one bulb planted your > whole pond will be covered in leaves within one growing season. I have it > confined in a large stoneware tub on my terrace for a fragrant winter > decoration. In summer the submerged pot is replaced by a miniature > waterlily. I am also reluctant to recommend the Asian or American Lotos > (Nelumbo). If happy they might colonize the entire pond within a short > time. They are perfect in large waterproof containers, though. > > Happy designing! > > Uli > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>