Skip to content

Top Navigation

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Home
  • Garden
  • Holidays & Entertaining
  • Videos
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Midwest Living

Midwest Living Midwest Living
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Simmering Soups and Stews

      Dish out a steaming bowl of comfort food with 50 of our favorite recipes for soups, stews, chowders, chilis and bisques. Read More Next
    • Midwest Living's Best of the Midwest Winners 2021

      Read More Next
    • Sparkling Spring Dessert Recipes

      The flavors of lemon, lime, berries and more sparkle in our recipes for pies, cobblers, cookies, cakes and puddings. Read More Next
  • Travel

    Travel

    See All Travel

    50 Midwest Resorts We Love

    Our favorite Midwest resort destinations range from cozy lakeside lodges to indoor water park behemoths. Dive in to check out our top picks for a fabulous Midwest getaway.
    • Illinois
    • Indiana
    • Iowa
    • Kansas
    • Michigan
    • Minnesota
    • Missouri
    • Nebraska
    • North Dakota
    • Ohio
    • South Dakota
    • Wisconsin
    • Around the Region
    • Free Travel Info
  • Food

    Food

    See All Food

    Midwest Living January/February 2021 Recipes

    • Comfort Foods
    • Desserts & Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Quick & Easy
    • Chicken
    • Soups & Stews
    • Midwest Favorites
    • Fruits & Vegetables
    • Fish
    • Grilling
  • Home

    Home

    See All Home

    Easy Organizing Solutions for Every Room

    Organizing the clutter of our lives doesn't mean relying on boring boxes. Think out of the box for clever ways to store necessities throughout your home.
    • Quick Decorating
    • Featured Homes
    • Organizing & Storage
    • Outdoor Living
    • Seasonal Decorating
    • Room Decorating
  • Garden

    Garden

    See All Garden

    10 Trendy Plants for Midwest Gardens in 2021

    • Container Gardens
    • Flowers
    • Featured Gardens
    • Midwest Gardening Calendar
    • Garden Ideas & Inspiration
  • Holidays & Entertaining

    Holidays & Entertaining

    See All Holidays & Entertaining

    50 Easy Spring Decorating Ideas

    Add pretty spring flair to your home with our ideas for centerpieces, table settings, door decorations, Easter egg displays and more.
    • Easter
    • July 4th
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Valentine's Day
    • Christmas
  • Videos

    Videos

    See All Videos
    • How to Make an All-Butter Pie Crust
    • How to Make Pumpkin-Spice Icebox Cake
  • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

    See All Spring Getaways Sweepstakes
    • Best Vacation Sweepstakes
    • Spring Getaways Sweepstakes

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Help
  • Logout

More

  • Win Your Dream Getaway!
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Magazine Issues
  • Destinations
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Midwest Living
  2. Garden
  3. Container Gardens
  4. Easy Container Water Gardens

Easy Container Water Gardens

June 01, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Make one of these 10 miniature water gardens in just minutes.
Start Slideshow

1 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Still waters

Tall plants (elephant ear and dwarf papyrus) contrast with low-growing water lilies and water lettuce in a ceramic planter.Tips on how to create this and other water gardens>>

1 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Glazed garden

This glazed terra-cotta pot sprouts a garden of two color of hardy water canna, dwarf papyrus and tropical pitcher plant.

2 of 10

3 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Lettuce bowl

A bowl of water lettuce and water hyacinth is an easy table accent.

3 of 10

Advertisement

4 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Pint-sized charmers

Provide a colorful counterpoint to a rough-texture stone container by adding leafy rosettes of water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), white water snowflakes (Nymphoides indica) and tiny Azolla fern.

4 of 10

5 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Feathery beauty

Combine four floating plants in a striking glass bowl: trailing parrot feather (Myriophyllum aquaticum), round-leaved frog's bit (Limnobium spongia), fan-like water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and red-tinged Azolla.Most water plants spread very quickly, so you may only need to buy one of each for your small garden. If you need to thin fast-growing plants from your container, be sure not to put them in natural waterways, where they can become invasive.

5 of 10

6 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Cheerful lilies

Place hardy miniature waterlilies, such as these Nymphaea pygmaea 'Helvola', in a yellowware bowl.

6 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Color contrast

A pale stoneware bowl is a good choice for showing off burgundy-edged Phyllanthus fluitans, tiny-leaf duckweed (Lemna minor) and lavender-flower water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes).

7 of 10

8 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Elegant greens

A glossy tureen holds an ensemble of lovely leaves: floating sensitive plant (Neptunia oleracea), water clover (Marsilea drummondii), water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and floating fern (Salvinia minima).

8 of 10

9 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Floating trio

Set a trio of small floating plants--water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes), water poppy (Hydrocleys nymphoides) and oval-shape Salvinia--in a square pot. Even without the occasional yellow poppy blossoms, the composition boasts an interesting mix of pleated, shiny rounded, and tiny oval leaves.

9 of 10

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 10

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

A splash of color

Add color to enamelware with floating fern (Salvinia minima) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), an easy-to-grow water plant.What happens to your tabletop garden in winter? In the Midwest, most water plants are grown as annuals. Some water plants can be overwintered indoors in an aquarium or in containers of wet, sandy loam; check with your local garden center for information specific to your area and the plants you have.

10 of 10

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 10 Still waters
2 of 10 Glazed garden
3 of 10 Lettuce bowl
4 of 10 Pint-sized charmers
5 of 10 Feathery beauty
6 of 10 Cheerful lilies
7 of 10 Color contrast
8 of 10 Elegant greens
9 of 10 Floating trio
10 of 10 A splash of color

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Login

Midwest Living

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Free Newsletters this link opens in a new tab
  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Renew this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Affiliate Program
  • Free Travel Info this link opens in a new tab
  • Special Promotions this link opens in a new tab
  • Sweepstakes this link opens in a new tab
  • Video
  • Home Advisor this link opens in a new tab

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Midwest Living is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.midwestliving.com

View image

Easy Container Water Gardens
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.