New water plant for my pond! PHOTOS OF SEED PODS>>>

[miguynmkoi]

Went down to the local nursery (Green Thumb) and they got a new shipment of very nice plants and water plants.  Saw this plant in the pond there and didn't know what it is.  I've heard of it in Ponders talk but never really seen one in bloom.  Looked right for my plantless koi pond! 

Here it is sitting it out in my rain water until I pull some of the string algae off of it. 

Don't you love the flower it produces!  I checked and this would look great in the pond on a pot stand with the rim at water level where the koi can't get into it!

[jclements]

Very nice! Isn't water Hawthorne a more cold tolerant plant also? I seem to remember that it's easy to collect seed from for propagation purposes?

[PondmaninAL]

If it produces seed, you will have to send me some.

[Jonna]

that's beautiful, I've always wondered what they looked like. 

[miguynmkoi]

Thanks, I will look into that Jessica.   

Of course Scott!  That would be really cool to be able to harvest seeds.  Research will be necessary to figure out where these seeds are located and what they look like 

Jonna you would have been drooling at this nursery, there were so many new plants in their pond.  I've read here about the hawthorn plant in photos but I don't remember seeing flowers.  It's the flowers that sold me.  There were pink flowers and white flowers.  The one I chose was the larger plant with a few flower buds coming up.  Even though pink is not in my color scheme I decided it would add a punch of color to a black bottom, rock clad walls, and plantless koi pond.

[emm]

Water hawthorn overwinters for me here but it gets off to a pretty slow start in the spring.  I drop its pot into the 4' section of the pond to keep it through the winter.  I think it is on the edge of its hardiness zone here. 

I collect the large seed pods when they are very fat and almost ready to burst.  The seeds are easily germinated in a jar of water in a sunny window sill.  Germination is excellent, have to be careful potting them up.  After several tries and much error I now just put some soil in a pot when they get to be of handle-able size, fill partially with water and float the seedlings.  As long as the water isn't too deep they seem to root easily into the soil on their own.  Then I gradually top up the water (or gradually move the pot into a progressively deeper part of the pond) until they are big enough to go into the position I want.  I've given lots of these away. 

This is a picture of newly germinated water hawthorn seedlings from my first attempt; toothpick on top shows scale:



Love your pink blooms Annette.  Mine are white.



The blooms are very fragrant, almost like vanilla.  In my pond they bloom early in the summer and then the leaves fade away; just a few small ones remaining through the summer.  When the temperatures cool later in the summer they resume blooming.

emm

[Julles]

Water Hawthorne... I LOVE them! 

I had one a while back, and it put out lots of seeds that germinated, and I had tons of babies.  But when I changed to a pressurized filter, for some reason, the plants would not thrive, nor would they reproduce anymore.  I've bought a few since then ($10 at end-of-season close-out), but they don't do well in my pond anymore.  I've never managed to overwinter one, either, and they die in the winter and don't come back.      I hope you have better luck.  Say, you could collect the seeds and sell 'em to us AP'ers!

[miguynmkoi]

That is very cool the photos you took, Emm!  Thank you for the growing tip.     I will keep my eyes open for the seed pod. 

If I get any seeds naturally AP posters may have them. 

[maryvonne]

We have Water Hawthorn in our ponds too. They reseed well here. In fact they are quite weedy and I usually pull a bunch out in the late spring.

Maryvonne

[miguynmkoi]

I like the white one Emm has but....can't go all piggy can I?    The white ones at the nursery had less leaves and flower buds so I chose the pink one instead.

Where do they reseed in your pond Maryvonne? 

[Julles]

I find it odd that the hawthorn survive the Canadian summers, but don't live more than the winter season here in south Texas.  What are you doing to keep them alive....oh, gee... I just figured it out!  Because Canadian summers are not nearly as hot as here in Houston. 

Seriously, I wonder if that's it.

[PondmaninAL]

Julles, I learned while living in Florida that plants that could grow in full sun in a cooler climate would grow in a shadier spot in warmer climate.

[Johns]

Here in north Carolina, my water hawthorn blooms in very early spring but totally disappear in the hot summer, leading one to think that they have died, but then the next winter, they come back.

[OldMarine]

Isn't this the plant JW was looking for?

Happy ponding,

Rich   

[Freddie Peepers]

Isn't this the plant JW was looking for?

Happy ponding,

Rich   

yes it is

[miguynmkoi]

I'm learning a lot more here with your experiences than I could find online.  Good to know about the heat hibernation.

[Julles]

The Plant Lady at the Water Garden store told me that, during summer here in Texas, when it would go dormant, that I could either leave it in the pond, or remove it and set the pot in the garage.  Since mine never survived over-summering in the pond, perhaps they would do better if I removed them and stored them out of the water.

[nmpondguy]

For some reason, my Water Hawthorne continue to flower all summer long even though my pond is in full sun all day.  I cut off the spent flowers before they go to seed.  Before I learned that, the pond was a mess with sprouts comming up everywhere!

[karen J]

I have tried and tried to grow that plant. I think it's my water. I wonder if this plant is pH sensitive, or hardness sensitive?

Annette, you picture is lovely. I love the pink.

[miguynmkoi]

I wonder if letting the plant go to seed would make it go dormant?  nmpondguy do you think so in your experience?  This plant will go into the area of the lily pond that has fewer hours of sunlight - shaded by trees.

Thanks Karen.  I don't know the answer to your question as I never check my pond water.

[jatfla]

Mine didn't grow here in N. Fla. and in partial shade.   

I have tried to order some plants online and they don't do well at all.  I think it's the change in water ph and sunlight conditions in most cases.  Too drastic.

[nmpondguy]

I wonder if letting the plant go to seed would make it go dormant?  nmpondguy do you think so in your experience? 

Well, I bought it in the fall.  Itflowered for a few months before our first hard freeze.  The next spring it came back and didn't stop producing flowers and sprouting seeds all over the place till winter.  The second spring it came back again.  But this time I tried to stay on top of removing spent flowers.  It still produced flowers even thru the hottest part of the summer, but that stopped the spouts from taking over.

So, in my experience, it never went dormant whether or not I let it go to seed.  From everything I read and hear, this is not the norm.

[Rad Michelle]

holy crap those are sooo cool i want some so bad!

[miguynmkoi]

Check this out!  Are these the seed pods?  Looks like something exploded! 

If these are the seeds what do I do to make them look like Emm's first photo of her seeds.  Drying involved?

 

[PondmaninAL]

If that is the seed pods, then the seeds will be inside. Now, if that is suppose to be the seeds, then I don't know since I've never had one. Hint hint. I know that marginals like pickerel rush and arrowheads have seeds that need to be kept damp.

[emm]

Annette,

Those look like seeds.  Do they feel firm when you squeeze them?  I did not dry the seed to save it, I simply dumped them into a glass of water and put them on my south facing window sill.  I changed the water every few days and washed out whatever debris was in the water.  They germinated in a few days.

emm

[miguynmkoi]

Thank you Emm!  Most of what I thought were petals are firm little pods.  I will keep the seeds in the barrel.  As you see in the photo of the one seed pod(s) there is another one just about ready to pop too.  I'm pretty happy about all the flowers showing up.

PondmaninAl please PM me your address and I'll send you some seeds.  Anyone else out there want some?  PM your address to me and as soon as the seeds are ready to go out, I'll mail them.

BTW Any suggestions as to how they should be contained for the mail?  Like a sandwich bag with moist paper towel in bubble wrap? 

[Rad Michelle]

omgosh! how exciting is that! i just got ahold of some white water hawthorn in a trade (thanks aquaphy) if you want we can trade seedlings if i get some from my plant, mine is a white blooming one, id love pink ! wink wink

[miguynmkoi]

I see today that the seeds I have look just like the ones Emm has in her photo above.    Learning!!!

I will send out seed Monday afternoon.  And because Uncle Sam needs me to send some money to him I will not be able to do the post office march until next week.  If anyone else wants seeds this Monday you'd better speak up.  I have two takers so far.  Julles?  You want some? 

[KatFish]

OOH!  If you have extras, me, me!!