Pest battle with Water Hyacinth — and how I won

I had a serious problem with root-eating by water lily aphids or china mark moth on my Water Hyacinth earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate essential habitat and breeding ground for pond wildlife, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a stream edge or bog garden and improved my attention to positioning at the correct water depth for the species. peak flowering period in midsummer was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.