Watch three-leaved plants for ponds. Plants for the pond. Differences and features of aquatic plants for decorating and cleaning a pond

Pond plants, or aquatic crops, are widely used both to decorate any artificial pond in the garden and for home ponds. In order to choose the right vegetation for a small or fairly voluminous one, you need to know the basic botanical features of such crops.

Differences and features of aquatic plants for decorating and cleaning a pond

Ponds and rivers are not only an integral element of modern design, but also an essential part of the ecological system of reservoirs, necessary to stabilize the balance of the ecosystem. The presence of higher plants that purify the waters of reservoirs is especially important for small-sized and stagnant mini-ponds, as it helps prevent “blooming” and turbidity. Such processes develop especially quickly in warm and sunny weather, and decomposing organic matter, unicellular algae and bacterial flora can make a pond in the yard or garden unsuitable for use. For the purpose of purification in this case, some higher aquatic plants are used that have certain characteristics and characteristics:

the foliage of aquatic plants is characterized by a dissected, thread-like shape;
the stem part is represented by air-bearing cavities;
The root system is rather poorly developed.

Criteria for choosing plants for an artificial pond

If there is an artificial reservoir on the personal territory, it is necessary to take into account the total area and depth, as well as the characteristics of the surrounding landscape. It is advisable to give preference to the most unpretentious species that do not require special care.

the ability of an ornamental crop to survive the winter in a body of water or soil near it;
timing and methods of planting, as well as the durability of vegetation;
need for care.

If the pond has a main perspective, then the plant composition should be arranged in such a way that vigorous vegetation does not obscure the view of the reservoir. It is better to decorate the recreation area with low-growing or ground cover crops. With a useful area of four square meters, reeds, hogweeds, as well as angelica and rhubarb are used. Too small ponds are decorated with arrowhead, calamus, bracken, daylily and chastukha. The viewing part is decorated with low-growing cinquefoil, bergenia, marigold and.

A good result is achieved by the contrast of long-leaved plants: cattail, calamus, daylily and reeds and round-leaved water lily, lotuses, bergenia and chastukha. Peri-aquatic and aquatic flowers are also widely used. To ensure all-season flowering, such crops can be placed in decorative containers.

What plants to choose for a pond (video)

Characteristics of the best plants for a pond

Absolutely all varieties and types of aquatic vegetation are representatives of the flora, capable of growing in the water column of not only natural, but also artificial ponds.

Aquatic floating on the surface

The foliage of such an ornamental crop floats on the surface. A characteristic difference is the lack of attachment of the root system to the soil. Above-water vegetation protects the water surface and thickness from overheating and uses organic compounds, which prevents the “blooming” of water. Floating plants can grow very quickly, so they need to be provided with quality care, including pruning and timely removal of excess shoots. Growing in special floating baskets gives good results.

Near-water (coastal)

Coastal perennials are also very popular when decorating ponds. In order for the vegetation of the reservoir to look interesting and attractive, the coastal area also needs to be designed accordingly, as a result of which moisture-loving crops planted on the shore will serve as a connecting link.

All sorts of decorative cereal crops look organic and very picturesque on the coastal zone, as well as flowering daylilies and irises, leopards, meadowsweet, loosestrife and valerian. They look incredibly elegant.

Swamp

Important to remember, that in order to prevent marsh perennials from growing too much, it is necessary to periodically remove the plantings from the floor.

The qualitative characteristics of water affect the growth and development of flora, so the reservoir must be cleaned regularly. This category includes sedge Magellan, burberry, butterwort, crowberry, vaccinium and marsh violet.

Oxygenators

A significant part of such perennials, useful from the point of view of the ecosystem, are in the water, and the flowers are above or below the water. They help prevent water pollution and also serve as food and spawning grounds for fish.

Underwater foliage absorbs mineral salts and carbon dioxide. Several plants planted at the bottom of the pond in spring and summer can significantly improve the appearance and condition of the pond water.

deep sea

The root system is located in the bottom soil, the foliage is on the surface of the water, and the flowers are on the surface or above the water. Some deep-sea crops can purify water, and their absence can cause uncontrolled proliferation of algae and bacteria.

Most often, this group of decorative perennials is represented by marsh flower or nymphaeum, water lily, yellow capsule, eichornia, watercolor, hornwort and duckweed.

Planting rules and design features of various types of reservoirs

In reservoirs that are small in volume and size, it is necessary to plant a couple of species of plants of each type, distributing them in small groups:

deep-sea and floating vegetation should cover no more than half of the entire water surface;
It is important to plant aquatic plants according to their adaptability to certain depth indicators;
When planting marsh ornamental crops, drainage is mandatory.

How to care for plants in a pond (video)

The design of reservoirs can consist of a soil or container method of cultivation and planting, carried out in the following sequence:

After draining, add ten centimeters of fertile soil substrate, represented by compost, sand and rotted mullein, to the bottom after draining;
coastal tall vegetation needs to be planted closer to the shore, and deep-water crops are planted in the central part;
the bottom surface should be sprinkled with a five-centimeter layer of medium-grained river sand, which serves to protect the root system and soil from erosion.

Heat-loving crops quite often freeze completely in winter, so it is advisable to dig them up and move them to storage. No less popular in our country is container cultivation of aquatic plants, which allows you to move them with the onset of severe cold weather in the cellars:

for cultivation, a fairly spacious, lattice-type planting tank is used, which allows the root system to actively reproduce;
It is best to use containers that are not brightly colored and will blend in with the surroundings;
It is recommended to effectively protect the bottom and walls from washing out the nutrient substrate with burlap, and sprinkle the surface of the soil with gravel.

As a rule, all aquatic vegetation is planted from the last ten days of spring to mid-summer. You need to approach the design very carefully and responsibly.

Appearance of the reservoir	Recommended plants for decoration
Geometric Ponds	Perfectly suitable are common calamus, three-leaf watch, or meadow tea, loosestrife or weeping grass, dichromena latifolia, drooping isolepis, calamus or water iris, as well as sedge, syphilitic lobelia, long-leaved buttercup, manna major and obtuse marsilea
deep pond	When decorating, vigorous reeds, cattails, reeds, buzulnik and Rogersia are used, as well as low-growing bergenia and funkia or beautifully flowering snake knotweed and marsh iris
Mini-ponds and shallow waters	Plants such as calamus, calamus, sedge or manna are characterized by a high level of unpretentiousness and vitality, therefore they grow well even in conditions of significant fluctuations in water level, and for some time even in its complete absence
Pond with decorative fountain	For decoration, you can use water hyacinths, dwarf varieties of water lilies. It is recommended to decorate the coastline with mantle, gravitate, cuckoo flower, low-growing irises, twisted rush or swamp forget-me-nots

Of course, on large bodies of water you can diversify the design and plant a significant number of plants. Spring flowering opens with cinquefoil, marigold and bergenia, followed by angelica and hogweed, and the parade of colors is completed by brown-yellow daylilies, marshmallow and angelica. However, even small ponds can look very attractive. Experts advise combining the cultivation of several types of aquatic and terrestrial plants, which allows you to get the most decorative results.

Plants for the pond: varieties (video)

Menyanthes

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Watch(lat. Menyánthes) - a monotypic genus of the family Rotational ( Menyanthaceae), represented by the form Three-leaf watch (Menyanthes trifoliata), or Water shamrock, or Trifol, grows in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere.

The name comes from the Greek menyein — disclosure And anthos — flower, indicating the sequential opening of flowers in an inflorescence.

It grows in the temperate climate of the Northern Hemisphere, from the Arctic to the subtropical zones of Europe, Asia and America. It is found on peaty and mineral soils, in sphagnum bogs, along the banks of standing and slowly flowing reservoirs, along the marshy outskirts of overgrown lakes and oxbow lakes. Vakhta can be one of the components of the herb-shrub layer of swamps, wet forests and meadows.

A perennial herbaceous plant, 15–35 cm high, with a thick, rather long rhizome. The stem is creeping, jointed, branching. The leaves are all alternate, basal, large, more or less sessile, long-petiolate with a trifoliate blade, obovate, glabrous.

The flowers are whitish-pink, sometimes lilac, star-shaped, emerging from the axils of small bracts, collected in a thick, oblong raceme on a leafless flowering stalk 3-7 cm long. The corolla is elongated, 12-14 cm, bell-shaped, densely pubescent inside. Five stamens.

It blooms in May-June, the fruits ripen in July-August. The fruit is a single-locular, round-ovoid capsule, pointed at the top, 7-8 cm long, opening with two valves.

Location: grows well in damp places and in shallow, warm, slow-moving or standing waters. This plant grows quickly and luxuriantly only in water bodies enriched with nutrients, in which water “blooming” is often observed.

Landing: To prevent the plant from getting out of control, it is planted in a basket. To avoid water blooms, the plant can be planted not in mesh containers, but in ordinary pots or containers with holes only at the bottom. Such a container is filled with soil, which is covered with a 2-centimeter layer of oily clay on top to prevent nutrients from being washed out into the water. The plants will grow, and some of them will hang outside the container, where the additionally formed roots will receive nutrients from the water, improving its quality. A. Luchnik recommends a planting depth of up to 20 cm, D. Hassayon 2.5-8 cm.

In the article we talk about three-leaf watch, we tell you how to collect, prepare and use the plant. You will learn how to use watch leaves to increase appetite, treat liver and gallbladder diseases, as well as tuberculosis and malaria. Using our tips, you will learn how to make decoctions, infusions and tinctures from the three-leaf plant.

Three-leaved watch (lat. Menyanthes trifoliata) is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Menyanthes of the family Menyanthaceae. Other names for the plant: water trefoil and trifolium. People call the watch a female toad, a fever, a consumptive grass.

What does it look like

The appearance of the three-leaf watch. The three-leaf watch reaches a height of 15−35 cm. The plant has a thick and long rhizome. The stem is creeping, jointed, branching and spongy, green in color.

The leaves of the watch are large, alternate, basal, almost all sessile, with long petioles and a trifoliate blade. The shape of the bare leaves is obovate.

Three-leaf watch blooms in May - June. Star-shaped whitish-pink or lilac flowers appear on the tops of the grass. The flowers emerge from the axils of small bracts. They are collected in a thick, oblong raceme on a leafless stem 3–7 cm long. The corolla is elongated, bell-shaped, up to 12–14 cm, densely pubescent inside. Each flower has 5 stamens.

In July - August, fruits ripen in place of flowers. The fruits of the watch have the form of a single-locular, round-ovoid capsule, pointed at the top, reaching 7-8 cm in length. The boxes open with two doors.

Where does it grow

The three-leaf plant grows in temperate climates. Distributed from arctic to subtropical zones of Europe, Asia and America.

The herbaceous plant prefers mineral and peat soils, sphagnum bogs. The watch can be found along the banks of standing reservoirs and slowly flowing rivers. Vakhta trifolia is one of the components of the herb-shrub layer of meadows, wet forests and swamps.

Water trefoil leaves

Chemical composition

Chemical composition of the leaves of the watch trifoliate:

vitamin C;
flavonoids;
loganin;
sveroside;
Menianin;
alkaloid gentianine;
carotene;
fatty oil;
tannins.

Medicinal properties

Useful properties of the three-leaf watch:

sedative;
tonic;
anti-inflammatory;
diuretic;
choleretic;
laxative;
regenerating;
pain reliever;
anticonvulsant.

A three-leaf watch can be bought at any pharmacy for 80 to 150 rubles. A soothing tea is prepared from the leaves of the three-leaf plant. It is taken for emotional overstrain, stress, and headaches. Tea made from the leaves of the plant calms the nervous system and has an analgesic effect.

Watchwort trifolium is a well-known remedy for improving appetite. Decoctions and infusions from this herb are taken if there is no appetite, especially during the recovery period after illness.

The plant increases the tone of the stomach wall, increases peristalsis and promotes the production of gastric juice, normalizing its acidity level.

The diuretic properties of the herb make it possible to use it to treat kidney diseases, and choleretic properties to eliminate liver and gall bladder diseases. Vakhtya bitters help relieve constipation by improving digestion and softening stool.

Medicines based on the plant are used in the treatment of tuberculosis, anemia and malaria. A decoction of the leaves is used to wash slow-healing wounds. Baths with a decoction of Trefolia are prescribed for diathesis.

How to collect

Raw materials are collected from the second half of June to August - at the beginning of summer the leaves are too juicy and may darken when dried, and in the fall brown spots appear on them.

Leaves are harvested with a petiole residue of no more than 3 cm. When harvesting, each leaf is wiped with your hands. The collected raw materials are dried at a temperature of 45-60 degrees, spread out on parchment or in an electric dryer.

Leaves of the three-leaf watch are stored in a dry and cool place. Shelf life: 2 years.

For more information about the three-leaf watch, see the following video:

How to use

Medicines based on the trifoliate are used to relieve pain of various origins, improve appetite, treat liver and gallbladder diseases, as well as tuberculosis and malaria.

Infusion for the stomach (appetite)

For problems with digestion and loss of appetite, an infusion of three-leaf watch is prescribed. The medicine improves appetite, increases tone, promotes the production of gastric juice, which is especially important for patients with hypoacid gastritis.

Ingredients:

Watch leaves - 5 g.

Boiling water - 250 ml.

How to cook: Pour a glass of boiling water over the medicinal raw materials. Leave the product for 30 minutes, strain before use.

How to use: Take ½ glass 4 times a day before meals.

Decoction for the liver

Three-leaf watch is used for the treatment and prevention of liver diseases. The herb restores organ cells, cleanses the liver and improves its function. A decoction is prepared from the plant.

Ingredients:

Three-leaf watch - 1 tsp.
Boiling water - 1 glass.

How to cook: Pour boiling water over the raw material, strain and use immediately.

How to use: Drink a quarter glass 4 times a day before meals.

For the gallbladder (choleretic agent)

Trefoil watch is good for the gallbladder. A tincture based on the plant is used to normalize the flow of bile.

Ingredients:

Three-leaf leaves - 50 g.
Vodka - 200 ml.

How to cook: Pour the raw materials into a glass bottle and fill with vodka. Seal the container and leave the product in a dark place for a week.

How to use: Take 10-15 drops of tincture three times a day.

Infusion for tuberculosis

The use of three-leaf watch for tuberculosis is possible only as an adjuvant. Plant-based medicines do not kill the bacteria that cause tuberculosis or stop the progression of the disease. However, decoctions and infusions of trefoil watch relieve coughing attacks and improve the general well-being of the patient.

Ingredients:

Raw materials - ½ teaspoon.
Cold boiled water - 2 cups.

How to cook: Pour cold water over the leaves of the plant. Leave for 8 hours. Strain before use.

How to use: Take ½ cup of the product 2-4 times a day 30 minutes before meals.

Tincture for malaria

For malaria, an alcoholic infusion of watch is used. The tincture relieves fever and improves the general well-being of the patient.

Ingredients:

Fresh watch leaves - 100 g.
Vodka - 1 l.

How to cook: Place the crushed raw materials in a glass jar and fill with vodka. Infuse the product for 2 weeks in a dark place. Strain the finished tincture.

How to use: Take 100 ml of tincture during attacks. After taking the medicine, wrap the patient in a blanket.

Tincture against pain

Decoctions and infusions of watch, the recipes for which are given above, are used as painkillers. You can also prepare an alcohol tincture and use it for severe joint pain.

Ingredients:

Dry watch leaves - 2 tablespoons.
Vodka - 2 glasses.

How to cook: Fill the raw material with vodka, first placing it in a jar. Leave for 2 weeks in a dark place. Strain the finished medicine and pour into a clean container.

How to use: Take 5 drops 4 times a day until the pain disappears. You can also use the tincture to rub sore joints.

Contraindications

Three-leaf watch has no serious contraindications for use, except for individual intolerance to the components of plant raw materials. However, before using medicines based on three-leaf watch, be sure to consult your doctor.

Classification

Taxonomic position:

department: Flowers;
class: Dicotyledons;
order: Astroflora;
family: Shift workers;
gender: Watch;
type: Three-leaf watch.

Varieties

The Vakhta genus is monotypic and is represented by a single representative - Vakhta three-leaf.

Watch three-leaf infographic

Photo of the three-leaf watch, its beneficial properties and applications
Infographics on three-leaf watch

What to remember

Vakhta trifoliata is the only representative of the Vakhta genus and has beneficial properties.
Wachta trifolium is used to improve appetite, relieve pain, treat liver and gallbladder diseases, tuberculosis and malaria.
The product has no serious contraindications for use, however, before using medications based on it, you should consult your doctor.

The beauty and attractiveness of reservoirs lies not only in the mystery of the water itself - in its shine, sound, movement or mirror stillness, but also in the fact that both under and above the water, along the banks of lakes, rivers and streams you can always find many interesting unusual plants. They are both a decoration and a necessity for your pond. Some, having leaves floating on the surface, prevent the water from overheating, others help maintain its purity.

Perhaps the most marvelous of deep-sea plants are water lilies or water lilies. It is no coincidence that in ancient times they were given the name of the mythological inhabitants of the waters - nymphs. Nympheas, or mermaid flowers, were credited with mysterious powers. Their petals were carried in an amulet to avoid troubles. At the end of the last century, unusually colored nymph hybrids began to be bred in France, and now there are many species with snow-white, pink, golden, dark red, lilac and other colors, up to 25 cm in diameter. Decorative as

Water lily (nymphea)

flowers and leaves of water lilies, round, shiny, floating on the surface of the pond. The sizes of water lilies are also varied - from dwarf ones (with a planting depth of 10-25 cm) to the largest (planting depth up to 1 m), which allows them to be used for tiny mini-ponds and large reservoirs. These perennial unpretentious plants love the sun, bloom for a long time (hybrids - all summer until autumn, until the water becomes cold), so every owner of a pond dreams of having a beautiful nymph. Wild white water lily can be propagated by seeds. This plant is listed in the Red Book and requires careful handling.

Nymphaeum

special containers installed at the bottom. They may not be as spectacular when flowering, but they are no less useful than water lilies, as they keep the water clean and protect it from overheating. Among them are nymphaeum (swamp flower), egg capsule, and water-color.

On the surface it forms a blanket of small leaves with roots

duckweed, which inhabits many bodies of standing water. There are plants that spend their entire lives at the bottom. Their leaves, by absorbing carbon dioxide and mineral salts, prevent water pollution and prevent the spread of green algae in it. This is the hornwort that is often recommended for pond breeding. It has no roots, so it is very easy to propagate: in the summer, cuttings are simply thrown into water. It tolerates both sun and shade well. To ensure that your pond always attracts attention, it must be decorated with coastal plants,

Water spin

whose flowers and leaves will serve as a frame for the banks throughout the year. There are a great many of them. These are mainly perennials. They are cared for in the same way as garden ones; they are propagated by division every few years. I recommend using ferns when landscaping a pond or a hill near it; they look very impressive. However, you should not abuse them. It is better to combine ferns with other types of plants. The hosta with its decorative leaves will take root in the shaded corner of the pond, and the unpretentious, well-known daylily will take root in the sun and partial shade.

Coastal plants include astilbe and popular irises. And

water mint, which can be used to camouflage the shore, has the same fragrant leaves as medicinal peppermint.

Already in April you will be pleased with bright yellow and white, simple and double marigold flowers if you plant them at the very edge of the water. They tolerate both mild drought and flooding. Primrose (primrose) and swimsuits look good on the shore. Some coastal plants grow in water up to 15 cm deep, so they are planted on a terrace in a pond or in shallow water. These include: calamus (by the way, also medicinal), plantain chastuha, sedge, cotton grass, trifoliate (medicinal), reed, cattail, marsh calla and others. Often these plants are not planted directly into the bottom soil, but each species is placed in a special container filled with soil.

Three-leaf watch

When landscaping your pond, proceed from its size, duration and time of flowering of plants, their correlation in height, leaf shape, color combination of simultaneously flowering species. Don’t forget about useful underwater plants that have no decorative value, but are so necessary for the health of a garden pond, about plants with leaves floating on the surface.

For a tiny pond, use two or three types of plants, remembering beauty and benefits when choosing. And don’t be upset if everything doesn’t work out right away as you wanted. This matter takes time. But on your site there will be a palm of “living” water, bringing joy.

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To be honest, I don’t have an exact answer to the question of why it was called that. There is only an assumption (but a very logical one!). The three-leaf watch, a very remarkable inhabitant of wetlands in its appearance, always seems to be warning, “watching” - going further can be dangerous!

The three-leaf watch is remarkable not only for its appearance. This is an excellent medicinal plant with many beneficial properties.

Three-leaf watch in nature

The appearance of the three-leaf watch is really so unique that it is almost impossible to confuse it with something else.

It has unusual leaves. On a long petiole sits three leaf blades of an obovate shape. This feature is reflected in two more common names of the plant: water trefoil and trifolium. The first one doesn’t need to be explained. And the second is just a Russified version of the Latin word “trifolium” - trefoil.

Water trefoil grows only where there is a lot of water in the soil. In high and lowland swamps, along the banks of lakes and rivers. And right in the stagnant and slowly flowing water of reservoirs!

To ensure that the roots do not suffocate from lack of oxygen in such conditions, special devices are needed. And the three-leaf watch has them. Its rhizome, like the rhizome of one living in similar conditions, is penetrated by many air passages so much that it resembles a sponge.

Sometimes on the surface of an overgrown lake or a “window” in a swamp, the rhizomes of the rhizome, cinquefoil and cinquefoil are intertwined so much that they form a kind of “raft”. A variety of sedges, cotton grass, and other plants settle on it. If you step onto such a “green lawn” you will fail!

So the three-leaf watch is really on guard, on “watch.” If you see it, walk carefully, checking to see if there is a quagmire below.

In May - early June, the plant blooms and becomes even more recognizable. A leafless arrow up to thirty centimeters long is crowned with a dense brush of magnificent flowers.

Really, if the flowers were even a little larger, the three-leaved watch would be a real ornamental plant! Although they are not so small anyway - more than a centimeter in diameter.

A white or slightly pinkish bell-shaped corolla of five petals with dense pubescence. Five stamens with large anthers, a large pistil in the center of the flower.

The flowers in the inflorescence bloom alternately. At the very top there may be buds that have not yet opened, and at the bottom there may be fruits that have already set. The inflorescence makes the three-leaf watch even more noticeable.

After flowering, round, pointed boxes are formed. They ripen in July–August. Opening with two doors, the box pours out small seeds.

The three-leaf plant is widespread in the forest and forest-steppe zones of the entire Northern Hemisphere. It is especially abundant in areas of “polesia” - unique forest and lake-swamp complexes. Ukrainian-Belarusian Polesie and Meshchera are the most famous of them.

In Russia, water trefoil grows in the European part, Siberia, and the Far East. This wonderful plant has long been used for medicinal purposes.

The healing properties of the three-leaf watch

Wachta trifolia is a recognized medicinal plant. Only its leaves are used in medicine. They taste bitter. They contain a number of alkaloids, glycosides, tannins, flavonoids, and essential oils. Lots of vitamin C.

The leaves of the oxtail trifolium and preparations made from them have a disinfectant, bactericidal, antipyretic, and choleretic effect. They are also used to improve the functioning of the stomach and intestines.

In folk medicine, trefoil watch was used for treatment tuberculosis . Hence - one of the popular names of the plant - consumptive grass .

Treated with infusions of leaves fever, malaria.

Both the leaves themselves and infusions and decoctions from them have been and are used to treat various skin diseases, wounds, and ulcers.

Trefoil baths used for scrofula, gave rise to another name - scrofulous herb .

Herbalists also treated colds and anemia, cough and bronchitis, stomach diseases and intestinal colic, liver and gallbladder diseases with the three-leaf watch. The range of medicinal uses of water trefoil is unusually extensive!

Watch leaves are used not only on their own. They are part of various medicinal herbal teas - soothing, choleretic, appetizing.

The main forms of medicinal use of the three-leaf watch - infusions And decoctions its leaves. They also cook tinctures on alcohol and vodka. Sometimes used powder from crushed dry leaves.

The leaves of Trefolia can be brewed as tea. They drink it to improve appetite and the general condition of the stomach and intestines.

By the way, the plant is also used in the brewing and alcoholic beverage industries.

Preparation of three-leaf watch leaves

When harvesting, the leaves are cut off, leaving a petiole of about 3 cm. There is no need to pull out the plant, the leaves should be cut off. In any case, the rhizome will be thrown away, and such “harvesting” leads to a reduction in the supply of a valuable plant!