Full Circle Digital Magazine March | April 2014 | Page 14

ENTREPRENEURSHIP • FYNBOS GARDENING
fynbos gardening

A qua tic P lant s
a n d We t land s

by Penny Jaffe

T

he use of water and water features has played a
great part in landscape design over the centuries,
from the cool and elegant courtyards in the
Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, to the magnificent
gardens of Versailles in Paris, with its canals and
fountains. In our own time, and a little less grandiose, the
building of fish ponds and water features has become
very popular, as has the recognition of the importance
of conserving and enhancing wetland
areas on public as well as private
properties.
Aquatic plants, besides attracting
various forms of wildlife such as birds,
frogs, reptiles and insects, play a vital
role in maintaining the natural balance
of a pond, dam or water feature, as
they oxygenate the water and help to
maintain water clarity by competing with algae in the
pool for food and light. The leaves of water lilies also
provide fish with shelter and shade. Shade also helps

to reduce the growth of algae. Besides the biological
advantages that aquatic plants will provide in a body of
water, there is also their aesthetic value. Most of these
plants, with their colourful flowers and their interesting
textures and forms, will enhance any body of water.
Fortunately, there is a range of indigenous aquatic
plants now available. These consist of deep-water
aquatics, such as the water lilies and the oxygenators
(water plants that grow on the bottom
of a dam or pool), and a wide variety of
what would be termed ‘marginal’ or ‘bog’
plants. These are plants that grow around
the edges in damp, boggy ground or
in the shallows of the pool, ideally with
a covering of never more than 5cm of
water over their roots.
One extremely attractive deep-water
aquatic is Nymphaea nouchali, a sweetly-scented blue
water lily which holds its flowers raised above the water,
and has large, rounded, floating, leaves. The flowers will

“there is a range
of indigenous
aquatic plants
now available”

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FULL CIRCLE DIGITAL MAGAZINE April 2014
March | NOVEMBER 2013