Water gardens can blossom in pots
There is something magical about plants like water lily and lotus that grow and bloom in water. Valerie Quam, aquatic plants horticulturist at the Atlanta Botanical Garden, recently reminded me that you don't have to have a pond to enjoy these exotics. Instead, you can create a water garden in a pot that, depending on the size, features a collection of plants or one striking specimen like the dwarf lotus Nelumbo "Baby Doll" or the very small hardy water lily Nymphaea "Helvola," with beautiful green-and-purple mottled foliage and pale yellow flowers. At the garden, Quam likes to group two to three pots together to create a bold statement. She prefers cylindrical or basket-shaped glazed pots, but terra cotta pots also work. Other options include plastic or wooden tubs (use untreated lumber, and don't use redwood, which is toxic underwater). When Quam creates a water garden in a pot, she fills the container with sand (play sand is a good choice and contains less sediment than river sand) to bring the potted plants up to the appropriate level. In addition to lotus and hardy lilies, she combines plants like dwarf papyrus, Cyperus isocladus, and Japanese iris, Iris ensata. One unusual combination features Canna "Pretoria," with variegated green-and-yellow foliage and bright orange flowers, and the Mexican petunia, Ruellia brittoniana, with blue flowers.