Hardy Floating Pond Plants in Washington

Invasive Weed Index

• Washington has bodies of water and an extensive interconnected waterway system. Floating plants sometimes escape cultivation and become competitors to native flora and impediments to watercraft, swimmers and animals. The state of Washington Department of Ecology has a full list of prohibited plants, including elodia, millfoil and fragrant water lily. Ensure your plant choice is not invasive.

Flowering Plants

• Water hyacinth is invasive in warmer climates but is safe in Washington. It produces tall spires of purplish-blue flowers and has showy foliage. Cutting off spent flower blooms prevents seeding. Dispose of vegetative pieces. The lotus is frost tender and needs its rhizomes brought inside in most of Washington state. This is easy to do and preserves the plant so it resprouts and produces dinner plate-sized blooms the following summer.

Floating Plants with Roots

• Floating plants come with a wide variety of leaves and tones. They add interest, depth and texture to your pond. Several species of pondweed native to North America are safe to use in ponds. Floating-leaved, Alpine and big-leaved pondweeds are all surface foliage that produces long, anchoring roots. Water chestnut is an edible plant that produces a fruit with edible seeds. It is potentially invasive, so take care when disposing of vegetative remains.

Free-Floating Foliage

• Bladderwort is an invasive species in Western Washington but it is used in Eastern Washington. The leaves look like they are filled with air and the plant is carnivorous. Duckweed is a small, leaved plant that flowers, but the flowers are tiny and inconspicuous. Parrot's feather is a floating leafy plant but that prohibited in Washington state. Water lettuce and duckweed are two common floating plants grown for their leaves. Water lettuce is a cup-shaped plant comprised of layers of leaves. It produces pups and spreads easily across the surface of the pond. Free-floating foliage moves with the breeze, is ever changing and interesting.