Product Overview
Water Celery (Oenanthe javanica)
Green water celery is a great plant in ponds using plants for water filtering!
While many plants may be used in a plant filter, green water celery is our #1 recommendation. Water celery is a very fast grower, which is important for filtration because the faster a plant grows, the more nutrients it absorbs from the water, purifying the water and out-competing algae for nutrients.
If you don't have a formal plant filter, tuck water celery behind and between rocks along your pond edge or streambed.
Water celery has a long growing season, starting earlier and ending later than almost any other pond plant; it even remains evergreen and grows through the winter in mild-winter climates.
Water celery is short to medium in height, with a neat and clean appearance; if it becomes overcrowded or leggy, simply prune back and it will regrow quickly--pruning is what removes nutrients permanently from the water feature.
In addition, water celery has small but pretty flat umbels of white blooms, and the young leaves and stems are edible, both raw in a salad and cooked in soups and stews.
There is also a variegated form of water celery named 'Flamingo' that we carry. If you are buying water celery for ornamental value, you probably want to buy variegated water celery. If you are buying water celery primarily as a filtering plant the variegated form will work, but because of its variegation it won't grow as fast and absorb nutrients as quickly, so you will need to use more of it to have the same degree of filtration.
Hardiness Zone: 4-10
Planting Container: We recommend a 7.5" x 5" fabric pot to grow a regular sized plant, and a 10" x 6" fabric pot to grow a large sized plant. Click on any fabric pot link to read about why fabric pots work better than hard plastic pots! (Or plant directly in the gravel of a plant filter!)
Light Requirements: full sun to part shade
Height: 10"-30" - Spread: Groundcover, spreads rapidly
Water Depth: Moist Soil to Shallow Water (up to 6" depth)
FERTILIZING: For best health and growth, we recommend fertilizing regularly (unless using the plants in a plant filtration system!). Use Pondtabbs 20 count, 60 count, or 300 count for fast release, or Aquascape 6 count or 12 count capsules for slow release (once a year) fertilizing. Aquascape is preferred for low maintenance, but Pondtabbs are useful in Spring when Aquascape is slow to start in low temperatures. Pondtabbs are also useful for a quick extra nutrient push for extra bloom, and for mid-summer fertilizing of a new plant (we don't recommend using slow release fertilizer in mid-summer or later in cold climates, as plants should run out of fertilizer at the end of the year to encourage dormancy in cold climates).
Plants are shipped bare root or in starter pots, and will require planting upon arrival. For in depth planting and care instructions visit our Planting and Care Instructions for Shallow Water and Bog Plants.
For information on using plants for pond filtration, please read our blog on this topic!
