Water Gardening: A trailing hardy plant in a big 3 tiered fountain?, 2 by cathy166

cathy166 wrote:
Will, if I can add my two cents' worth, there are just a few things....

You need to check to see if plants like English ivy (hedera) or Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia), both perennials, are invasive in your area. Around here, ivy is difficult to contain, and we must be responsible gardeners.

Any water movement will deter mosquitoes from laying eggs, even a small flow, because if it pumps from the top and spills over, you will have more movement. Also, you won't have mosquitoes if you have fish. Mosquito dunks work, but they are for standing water only.

Last: You don't need water in that fountain at all. With a little creativity and elbow grease, you can use plants in containers. Trailing plants like sweet potato vine (ipomoea) do a beautiful job of trailing as do some of the coleuses trailers. They can be overwintered indoors if you have the space. If you don't have the space, they can be rooted in water (yes you can root a sweet potato vine cutting). Cuttings are usually free from friends, so that cuts down on the investment. A couple of rooted cuttings in a pot of soil will take off. Coleus both bush and trail, depending on variety. You can root them in soil, but they need a bit more attention. Even with pest damage, the sweet potato vines project color. (I'd like to shoot those deer.)

With a minimum of water, your friend/landlord would probably love that. Check out the container gardening threads.

First photo is a black sweet potato vine with pinstripe petunias and a coleus in the center. Second is a coleus(Redhead) and another coleus which is I think is Florida Sun Rose. The third has mostly trailing chartreuse sweet potato vine.
Marcia