I'm looking for interesting water garden plants, something other than the standard water lilies. What are some of your favorite plants and why??
If we are talking deep water plants then my fav. is Water Hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) which has beautiful orchid-like lavender flowers. Certainly very different from the water lilies - though I do love the water lilies too - they are gorgeous and the many colours. Then there is also the Pondweed my ultimate deepwater plant - Pondweed (Aponogeton distachyos) which has has dark green, strap-like leaves and bears scented white flowers with black anthers. And it is edible.
Oops I made a mistake - the Water Hyacinth is a floating plant. Oh yes - I think I will go and look for my grandmother's recipe for Pondweed bredie (stew) and as soon as I find it I will post it.
I have flag iris in the shallow margins of my pond - yellow and blue. Flowering reeds are lovely too and have small pink flowers.