Aquatic Plant Profile: Purple loosestrife

Lythrum salicaria

An absolute must have for any Aussie garden! This subtle native purple flowering species thrives in full sun, but can also do well in full shade. Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a marginal species growing to 1m that has an incredible purple flower display from September to March, the flowers are a banquet for all insects and bees, caterpillars will also feed on the stems of the plant.

This plant has a good frost tolerance and can extend beyond the pond to garden beds around your landscape, where it can form a 1x1m shrub connecting the two areas of landscape. It can be planted in almost any medium; clay, soil, sand, gravel or pebbles.

During flowering, it attracts insects to feed on the flowers, dragonflies will also take advantage of the abundance of prey.

After the flowering season concludes, cut Purple loosestrife back all the way to the rootstock to ensure a vigorous return next season. It will also benefit from a slow release aquatic fertiliser tablet annually. 

This plant is propagated through division of clumps by tracking down a cluster of stems to its roots and trimming individual plants that have formed within the clump. It can be then transplanted in sand, gravel or pebbles to grow.