How to Grow Freshwater Aquatic Plants

Water Lilies

• 1

  Plant water lilies in deep pots filled with a clay gravel and loamy soil mixture. Place the lily rhizome about three inches from the top of the soil at a slight, right-facing angle. Slip a fertilizer tablet formulated for aquatic plants into the soil.

• 2

  Cover the lily with an inch of soil and two inches of pea gravel to hold the soil inside the pot. Submerge the entire pot under water.

• 3

  Remove tender water lilies from an outside pond before the cold weather. Store them in a location that will not freeze. Keep hardy lilies in the pond to re-emerge next year.

Anacharis

• 4

  Combine a mixture of sand and gravel into a shallow pot. Insert the roots of the underwater anacharis plants into the pot. Cover the sand-gravel mixture with smooth, clean stones.

• 5

  Place the anacharis pot into an aquarium or pond so that the stems remain underwater. They will provide food and shelter for fish, who will, in return, provide the carbon dioxide your aquatic plants need.

• 6

  Trim your anacharis plant tips to remain underwater when they begin to pop through the water's surface. Anacharis do best when growing about six inches under water.

Dwarf Papyrus and Water Clover

• 7

  Fill a shallow pot with a mix of clay gravel and garden soil. Submerge the pot in water until it is saturated, and the soil has turned to mud.

• 8

  Create a shallow crater in the center of the pot. Nestle the roots of a dwarf papyrus or water clover into the crater.

• 9

  Cover the top of the pot with a layer of pea gravel. Submerge the pot into water.