Parrot's Feather BEFORE & AFTER

[Kat]

Had some sickly looking parrot's feather & set up a tub with dirt on the bottom just to see what it would do.  Plants were placed without doing anything further other than adding a couple inches of water. May 9th is before & June 1 is 24 days later.

[Kat]

Today

[Pam]

they aren't sickly looking any more!

[Reedman]

I wish I could grow parrot's feather . . .    Tried 2-3 times over the years.  Gets sickly then dies.

Yours looks great!

[SueSTx]

I grow mine in the top of the "skippy"...it seems to like it there.

[Kat]

It goes crazy in top of a skippy style filter for me, too, getting its roots tangled with my filter media.  I like to stick strands of it in my bog plant pots.  Will eventually establish itself & start to trail across the water, down the sides of my pond.  Looks great planted in with freestanding lotus & iris pots.  Just don't let it get into your grass as it is a nightmare to get rid of.

[SueSTx]

I have to change out the media each year after using the parrots feather, but I recycle other media so it is all good.

[Reedman]

I think I'll buy some parrot's feather and grow it on top of my Skippy filter.  Thanks for the tip.

[nmpondguy]

Hey Kat,

What is that big leaf plant in the pot with the parrots feather?

[Kat]

I've always called it duck potato & it is probably Sagittaria lancifolia.  There are beige colored "potatoes" about 1/2" in size that are in the soil which will produce the leaves.

[nmpondguy]

Thanks Kat.  I have to look that up.  Not many plants can take the heat here in Albuquerque, but I'm always looking to try something different...

[Kat]

It is a tough plant.  The plants that do great for me in our heat/high temps are: water willow, crushed ice sagittaria, duck potato, Yerba Mansa, dwarf umbrella Palm, dwarf papyrus, Lizard's tail, Mare's Tail, bog lily, taro (partial shade), parrot's feather, King Tut papyrus, LA iris, white rain lilies, water sedge.

[SueSTx]

Water willow works well for me too here in our hot dry summers.  It is off to a slow start this year though.



I like the looks of the parrots feather until it gets all straggly in late fall, put then I just pinch it back.  I have my grate covered with filter media that they root in.  I trim the roots back before I drop in to the bottom before a killing frost.

[frogman3]

I was liking the water willow till I found it spreads by underwater runners growing unseen under the rocks lining my steam and water fall. Now it becomes a problem as shoots appear everywhere and pretty much uncontrollable without a total dismantle. It takes a double thick walled pot in my experience to keep it from escaping. I do like the water sage mentioned by Kat …so far after one year. Looks great and has not so far run ramped. Another one to be careful with is water celery which has a stong root system making it difficult to deal with if grown on top of your filter media and will excape your pond and grow all too well on land.

[Kat]

Yes, I can see where Water Willow would be a nightmare to deal with if you aren't pruning it a lot to keep it contained.  Mine escaped the pot but all my ponds are above ground so I don't have to worry that way.  It has crept into other pots though, so I keep it all by itself without any other bog plants nearby, LOL.

Yerba Mansa as sent runners down to the dirt but I was able to get those yanked up pretty easy.

Gary had showed pics of his green taro that had spread all over in at least an 8ft section of yard, 100s of plants.

I won't grow mexican petunia anymore because of the underground runners & seed dropping.  With Pink Bells I can at least pull up unwanted plants grown from seed & no runners.

[SueSTx]

I've never had any runners escape by tub and it has been in there for years.  I do have lava rock in the bottom so maybe that helps...who knows.  Maybe the 3 to 4 inch ice that forms on top of my tanks in the winter kills any runners that did form.

[nmpondguy]

Good info from all.  I'm not going to mess with anything you guys say is invasive.  It took me years to get rid of the water mint that ran rampant in my rocks and jumped from the pond to my yard (still pulling it up whenever I notice it in the yard).    Don't want to go there again.