Water Plants

What has anyone had any luck growing in water? I'm always on the lookout for new things to pop into the whiskey barrels that I fill with water every summer. It seems like anything that's sold as a pond plant is twice as expensive as anything else for some reason, so I like to try things that just don't seem to mind standing around in the water. I've had success with Cannas, Cardinal Flower, Fiber Optic Grass, Sweet Flag, & Elephant Ears. I'm looking through the seed catalogs now and trying to come up with some new ideas. Any suggestions?

Cyperus! Easy to grow from seed & beautiful. (Also known as papyrus, I think. Not quite sure I got the Latin right either.)

Your right Summerkid, paprus. I have the dwarf one. Is not hardy so has to live in the greehouse for the winter but likes wet feet. If you do flower arrangements the stems look cool with mixed flowers.

Welcome Lauribob!

I don't know anything about water plants, except that once I accidentally left some Acorus gramineus I had dug out (I think that's what it was) in a bucket that filled with water in the Fall rains, and they seemed no worse for wear.

I wonder where I could find some papyrus seed? I just got some marsh marigold seed and it turns out that it's one of those things where you have to put it in the frig for a month, move it somewhere else for a month, let them sleep in your bed with you for a month... Ok, that was an exaggeration, but I don't do well with things that need to live in the frig unless they're still in the packet. The odds aren't good for the marigolds.

I probably have some, Lauri.
I also store my seeds in an unheated garage so figure that they get cold-stratified that way.

Well, I FAILED to grow this edible green, due to not-wet-enough and not-warm-enough:
"Water Spinach" / Ipomoea aquatica / "Water Morning Glory" / "Water Convolvulus" / "Swamp Cabbage"
(in Thailand: "phakbung").

I kept watering it manually, every day, but it was a cool summer. And I think it needs more water than once-a-day watering, like a constant drip. The seed vendor said "very moist soil or hydroponically, and "semi-aquatic". Also sub-tropical. Given both of those conditions, like southern-most Florida, it probably is as invasive as some say.

But I like the idea of growing it in a bucket! The people who told me about it rave about it as a boiled vegetable they discovdred in Thailand.

I wonder if lining a small raised bed with plastic and only allowing a little drainge would be wet enough?
I think i would also need to give it a plastic tent, for warmth, around here.