Eichhornia crassipes is commonly known as Water hyacinth and can be highly invasive. I only bought one small plant, but I ended up removing it on a weekly basis to allow at least some air and sun to enter the water. It creates dense mat of lush vegetation on the pond’s surface, but with time it shades out everything inside the pond.

When I got the plant it was quite weak and pale and after I tossed it in the spring into the pond’s relatively cold water, some of the leaves actually became yellow. It all seemed the plant will have hard time to survive, but everything soon changed to the better and it started multiplying and growing, not only above the water but below as well. It forms dense root system and hollow leaves that float on the water.

Water hyacinth was providing shade and protection to tadpoles and all kind of water organisms. Tadpoles then turned into little frogs and they too loved the floating plant. It soon started to show it’s invasive nature and started to take over the pond. At that point I started manually removing them. When I was taking them out, I noticed there are different organisms living and hiding in their dense root system, so I tried to keep those and only toss out the invasive plant.

In the end of August, Eichhornia crassipes finally started flowering. This plant has two major flaws, first is it’s uncontrollably invasive and second, it starts blooming way too late. When it started flowering, autumn almost began, so beautiful flowers couldn’t last long. It would be great to have them in full bloom from let’s say early June.
 
 
 

When colder weather kicked in, the plant looks less and less attractive, flowers were gone and leaves turned pale. When first frost arrived, it burnt most of the plant and I removed great deal of it. I used it as mulch to protect other plants from extreme cold and it worked quite nice. I also noticed that earthworms just love water hyacinths roots. When water hyacinth freezes, it dies off and if in water, falls to the bottom of the pond. I’m not sure if tadpoles next spring liked the taste of it, or it still sits on the bottom. I’m not going to plant it again, because it grows way to aggressively. It can be used for mulch, compost, worm food and can be great for tadpoles and other creatures inside the pond, but the fun is over soon. If only it could flower earlier, then it would be tough decision and I’d most likely grow it again… and again.