Equisetum hyemale Marginal Pond Plant

An upright evergreen marginal plant that stays standing right through winter, keeping colour and structure at the pond edge all year round. It suits full sun or partial shade, giving flexibility over where you place it. Buy it as a single 1 litre basket-grown plant for an instant established look, or as a pack of three smaller 9cm pot plants to fill a larger stretch of margin.

Equisetum hyemale is an upright evergreen marginal plant that holds its stems standing through winter instead of dying back to the base, so pond margins keep their shape and interest across every season. It suits anyone planting up a shallow pond margin or shelf, in a position anywhere from full sun to part shade. The manufacturer describes it as extremely hardy, stating it has been grown successfully as far as 500 miles inside the Arctic circle, which points to a plant suited to cold or exposed gardens.

What you get depends on the option chosen. The 1 litre option supplies one plant already growing in its own 1 litre mesh aquatic basket, ready to go straight into the pond. The 9cm pot option supplies a pack of three young plants, each in its own 9cm pot, a practical way to plant up a wider stretch of margin in one go.

The 9cm pot plants aren't supplied in a mesh basket, so you'll need to pot them into one of your own before planting; the 1 litre plant arrives ready-basketed and doesn't need repotting straight away. What sets this plant apart is the combination of an evergreen habit with the manufacturer's hardiness claim, giving a planting that keeps height and structure at the margin through the colder months as well as summer.

Care is simple and seasonal: leave the old growth standing over winter, then cut it back in spring once new shoots have reached around 15cm high. Plants that have grown past about 60cm benefit from a larger mesh basket, or planting directly into gravel, to stop them leaning over in windy weather.