Indoor Water Garden – Bring the Magic of Water Into Your Home

All you need to make a water garden is a nice, clear glass container. Apothecary jars and attractive vases or aquariums are good choices. Antique shops are a great place to look for attractive jars and other interesting supplies. Your jar doesn’t have to be clear glass. I just think it provides so many more ways to view the plant.

Indoor water garden design can be fun. It’s purely decorative and you can play around with interesting props commonly used in aquariums to make underwater scenes.

Your should position your water garden so that it gets light that is appropriate for the plants you have. Anubias which are common aquatic plants, enjoy weaker light so you can keep them out of direct sunlight.

Choosing Plants

There are two types of plants you can grow in a water garden. Fully aquatic plants can be totally submerged in water, while semi-aquatic plants must have their leaves above water.

Some water garden plants to look at are:

• • Anubias

• • Parrot’s feather

• • Floating liverwort (aka Crystalwort)

• • Hornwort

Dealing with Algae

Your water garden is likely to start developing algae. This will make it more difficult to see through the glass in your container (that’s if you’re using a glass container). If it doesn’t correct itself, try using a special algae removal product to assist.

Growing Medium

Many aquatic plants don’t require a growing medium. You can use aquarium gravel or small pebbles to hold down the roots of your plants. Make sure you wash gravel and pebbles before introducing them to your garden. This will clear off bits of dust that will cloud your water. I suggest rinsing them twice.

Lighting

Some plants will need a lot of light and I’d recommend using an aquarium fluorescent light. It’ll also help to make your water garden into a feature in the room.

Fertilizer

Ask the shop where you bought your plants for fertilizer tablets. These are special tablets for aquatic plants that will dissolve in the water and provide yoru plants with the nutrients that they need. Overfertilizing may lead some plants to grow too quickly so take it easy.

Plant Disposal Caution

Many aquatic plants, although fantastic for water gardens, are invasive species which will take over if introduced into the outdoor environment. If you need to get rid of some of these plants, please throw them away with your rubbish rather than into the garden waste.

Other Options

A traditional water garden as I’ve described isn’t the only way you can make use of water as a feature in your indoor gardening.