Water Hyacinth: Bad Boy of Florida Can Be Your Pond's Best Friend
A pond can turn an ordinary yard into an inviting retreat. So it's no wonder that water gardening is the fastest-growing aspect of gardening today. Most gardeners are always on the alert for unusual but beautiful plants, and water gardeners are no exception.

If you want an unusual plant with lovely flowers for your pond, water hyacinth is an excellent choice.

These distinctive-looking floating plants have roundish shiny green leaves up to 10 inches in diameter, held upright so they act as sails as the plant floats on the water unattached to the bottom. Also known as Eichornis Crassipes, the plant has thick, hollow leaf stalk helps keep the plant afloat and a mass of fine roots hang in the water under the plant.

Flowers of this dramatic plant are blue-purple or lilac with a yellow spot and are usually 2 to 3 inches across. The spike of flowers resembles a Dutch hyacinth, to which it is not related.

This native of South America has become naturalized in many areas of the world. It was introduced to other countries by well-meaning people as an ornamental plant.

It is believed that a visitor to a world exposition in Louisiana in the 1880s took some water hyacinth plants home with him to Florida and subsequently released them into the St. Johns River.

The fast-growing plants spread rapidly to other states, where they became a nuisance, clogging waterways and crowding out native aquatic plants. These days, the people of Florida spend millions trying to eradicate it. On the other had, the manatees eat it.

Despite its checkered past in Florida, the water hyacinth, kept in a backyard pond, is a treasure. It purifies the water, helps to shade the water, reduces algea. The roots hang down into the water and give fish a place to hide and make a good spawning medium.

It needs at least 6 hours of sunlight daily, but its large leaves shade underwater areas. About 60 percent of a pond's surface should be covered with plants to keep algae under control.

See water hyacinth up close and personal at Lavalette's extensive water garden display.