Summer Discount to our Nursery Visitors: Throughout July we are offering a 15% discount on all our plants to customers that visit our nursery in person, this offer excludes dry goods. We are open Tuesdays to Saturdays 9 am to 5 pm, closed Sundays and Mondays, hope to see you soon.

Marginal Plants, Perennials or Woodland Ferns?

Marginal Plants, Perennials or Woodland Ferns?

Marginal plants are so called and categorized for a good reason. Simply put, they grow at the water’s edge (water margin) where land meets water. It is important to bear in mind that in natural clay or silt based ponds, the water margin will rise in times of flooding and sink in times of drought. This natural rise and fall in water levels also happens to a lesser degree in man-made concrete ponds, preformed  fibre glass ponds and butyl rubber lined ponds. Accordingly, in natural ponds, true marginal plants are quite adaptable and have different ways of dealing with extremes of seasonal weather. For example, some produce long roots that will always find the water table, while others in times of drought will self-seed and germinate and colonize when the natural water levels rise again.

However, this natural rise and fall in water levels also happens to a lesser degree in man-made concrete ponds, preformed  fibre glass ponds and butyl rubber lined ponds. Therefore, marginal plants for these ponds must also be adaptable to changing water levels.

The plants listed below are Perennials and Ferns, and certainly NOT Marginal Plants

List of Perennials being advertised and sold as Marginal Plants.

Ajuga Reptans

Alium Schoenoprasum

Astilbe (all cultivars)

Athyrium (all Athyrium Ferns)

Cammassia (all Cammasia species and cultivars)

Dryopteris Erythrosaura (all Dryopteris Ferns)

Filipendula Rubra Venusta

Eupatorium Cannibinum

Hostas (all cultivars)

Iris Setosa

Iris Sibirica (all cultivars)

Lobelia Siphilitica

Lysimachia Epherum

Mimulus Lewisii

Mimulus Cardinalis

Mimulus Cupreus

Monarda (all cultivars)

Persicaria Bistorta Superba

Physostegia Virginiana

Schizostylis (all cultivars)

Trollius (all cultivars)

Please visit our website www.lilieswatergardens.co.uk to see our large range of over 750 pond plants and water garden plants all categorized correctly and available to buy online or from our retail aquatic nursery in Surrey.

We also carry all the pond planting accessories needed to bring your pond to life in full colour throughout the spring and summer.

Click here to see and read over 120 articles on all aspects of water gardening and the wild life that water in your garden can attract.