Winter on the Water
Plants have evolved very unique and diverse ways of surviving cold weather. Most flowering plants in North America’s temperate climate lose their leaves or die back to the ground and live off of stored food. Water plants are a slightly different story. On the surface of the water, there is no protection from freezing temperatures. Many ponds completely ice over in winter. To adapt, water plants like Arrowhead and Waterlily lose their leaves and die back to underwater roots that snake along the beds of ponds. The water actually insulates them from freezing and helps them survive. In mild winters, tiny floating plants like Duckweed and Fairy Moss can simply sink to the unfrozen parts of a pond or swamp in a state of hibernation, ready to float back up again with the onset of warmer weather. In more extreme winters, they produce massive quantities of spores or seeds, while the parent plants die and decompose over winter.
Viewer Tip: Winter is a great time to plan and dig a water garden. Not only are water sources important for hundreds of species of insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, but the garden itself is a beautiful and valuable addition to the landscape. There are countless native plants for the water garden that fulfill various roles and have beautiful flowers and foliage.
For more information on planting a water habitat garden, visit the Georgia Wildlife Federation at www.gwf.org.
Season: Winter
(Source: Creating Water Gardens, Ortho Books and Meredith Books, IA: Scotts Company, 2003.)
