Container Gardening in Water

Container gardening in water is also known as creating a container water garden. And it's a fairly simple kind of garden to create. The beauty though, lies in the fact that your container garden is all in water instead of primarily dirt. This opens the door to trying a whole host of plants which just grow in water or swamp like areas. Container gardening in water also makes it easy to add a small bubbling water fountain, which is quite soothing and relaxing to sit by at the end of a stressful day.

Getting started with container gardening in water requires that you select a good waterproof garden container. Your garden container doesn't have to be large, but the larger it is of course the more room you'll have for water plants, fountains, and other accessories.

One of the tricks of container gardening in water is to create "shelves" inside your pot. Since water garden plants grow at different heights, and they must have certain parts of the plant be at water level in order to grow well, you'll often have to create raised platforms for some of the plants to sit on. This is easily done by turning a plastic starter pot upside down in your water garden container, then sitting a flat brick on it to keep it weighted down. Then you simply sit your chosen water garden plant on top of that brick, and it will be at the height it needs.

Creating a container garden in water is very similar to creating regular container gardens. You'll want to choose plants which like the same conditions for instance, and that's fairly easy since they'll all need to be water loving plants if you're going to put them into a container water garden.

There are some water garden plants which will help keep algae down though, and others which create different types of flower blooms. Then of course there are some water garden plants which grow three to four feet tall, and others which will produce flowers right on top of the water in your garden. So like any good container garden, water based container gardens should start with a nice selection of plants.

Now some gardeners will tell you that no water garden is complete without water lilies, and I'd have to agree. These beautiful water plants work quite well with container water gardens, and the leaves actually float on top the water of your container garden. These create flowers too, and those will almost look like they're sitting on top the water because they rise just an inch or two in height. Water lilies are useful for container water gardening because they help shade the water in your container, which will help keep algae from growing making the container garden slimy.

There are several types of water garden plants which will trail over the side of your container, and these are highly recommended for creating a polished look in your water garden. The other thing you'll need though, is a water plant or two with height. Cattails for instance, thrive in container water gardens, and they grow about three feet tall. This will give your garden dimension, and if it's outside it will also attract birds and beneficial insects too.