The Best Plants for Edging a Shady Pond

Cardinal Flower

• The cardinal flower, or Lobelia cardinalis, is a perennial that grows best beside water and thrives in partial shade. Each summer, it produces spiky red flowers that will dot the edges of your pond with attractive blooms. If you remove the first top bloom, it will encourage additional flowers to form on the side shoots, creating a fuller plant. At this time, you can also add a commercial fertilizer for best results. The only other care this plant requires is to thin the clumps every three years.

Virginia Bluebells

• If you are looking for a nice ground cover that requires little tending, consider Virginia bluebells, or Mertinsia virginica. These wildflowers do well in moist soils and tolerate the shadiest conditions. They have small pink buds that open into blue blooms that resemble tiny bells in the spring, thus their name. These flowers will spread quickly via rhizomes, yet do not require thinning. In summer, Virginia bluebells may fool you by playing dead, but they are only dormant and will return to their brilliance in time.

Joe-Pye Weed

• Joe-Pye Weed, or Eupatorium maculatum, is a tall flowering plant, reaching up to 6 feet tall. Its height makes it a good choice for the back of a border. It prefers full sun, but it can grow in partial shade. It grows in large clumps, so make sure that these plants have plenty of room. Also, you may wish to plant these in hills to promote soil drainage despite the pond edge location. You will be rewarded each fall with large pink blooms on purple stalks.

Rose Mallow

• Another tall flower that does well in wet soil and partial shade is Rose Mallow, or Hibiscus mosheutos. These flowers grow between 2 and 8 foot tall, depending on the cultivar, and produce large red blooms during the hottest months of summer. Rose mallow is a heavy feeder, so you should fertilize every spring. Other than yearly applications of fertilizer, these plants require little additional care, although you may need to divide the plants every few years.