Marginal pond plant
Arrowhead
Sagittaria sagittifolia
A tuberous, emergent pond plant for wildlife gardens, Arrowhead grows in mud at the water’s edge and flowers in mid-summer. It is hardy and generally easy to grow.
PLANT PROFILE
About Arrowhead
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) is a tuberous perennial commonly used in UK garden ponds and wildlife gardens. It has an emergent, marginal habit (sometimes producing floating leaves in suitable conditions) and is normally planted into mud or grown in aquatic baskets. RHS cultivation notes list it as suitable for planting in deep mud and in still or slow-moving water, with an upper water depth for emergent planting reported by RHS sources as up to 20–30 cm. Mature plants can reach around 0.5–1.0 m in height with a potential spread of roughly 1–1.5 m, so allow space for clumps to develop.
Flowering occurs in July and August. The species is recorded as native to Great Britain and Ireland and is cited by conservation and freshwater habitat sources as having wildlife value — it is included in RHS wildlife/garden lists and pond species inventories. RHS treats it as an emergent/marginal tuberous plant rather than as a submerged oxygenator; the supplied sources do not describe it as an oxygenating plant.
Planting and management follow standard aquatic-plant practice: plant bare-root into mud or purchase container-grown specimens and place them in aquatic baskets. New containers are often raised on bricks and lowered as the plant establishes. Propagation is by seed, division or stolons. RHS notes the species is generally pest- and disease-free, requires no pruning, and is hardy (RHS hardiness rating H6). Foliage is deciduous and dies back in winter, the plant surviving seasonally.
Take care to contain planting with baskets or containers to restrict spread and to avoid accidental escape into waterways. Also take care not to confuse this native S. sagittifolia with other Sagittaria species that may be non-native or regulated in parts of the UK.
POND SUITABILITY