How To Create An Indoor Container Water Garden

Indoor water gardens are a fun and unique way to display aquatic pond and aquarium plants in your home. We will cover some design tips and also talk about which aquatic plants are best for indoor containers and will thrive without soil.

Select A Decorative Glass Container

A tall glass vase or a large mason jar make a dramatic vertical statement showing off not only the foliage but also the root system suspended in the water.

Choose The Base Media

My personal favorite is turquoise sea glass. Additional attractive options include aquarium gravel, beach sand, colored sand, pea gravel, broken sea shells and black beach pebbles.

It’s not necessary to have a base material, I just think it gives the display a finished look.

Selecting Plants 

The best and most carefree option is to use floating pond plants. These aquatic plants naturally float on the surface with roots dangling in the water. Floating water lettuce and floating water hyacinth are 2 good examples.

Water lettuce has a nice rosette of green foliage. Water hyacinth features sky blue blooms. Both of these plants thrive in full to part sun so give them a sunny spot near a south facing window.

A third option is to use marimo moss balls. These are totally carefree aquarium plants that do not require soil. They appear as a round, fluffy ball of underwater moss but they are actually a type of beautiful filamentous algae that looks like moss.

 

There is a tradition in Japan where people keep marimo as pets even giving them names. To learn more about keeping marimo in containers, read our article about them here.

More plant options include Mini Hairy Grass, Red Root Floaters, and Dwarf Parrot’s Feather. Red root floaters do not need to be planted in soil, however, mini hairy grass and dwarf parrot’s feather plants are submerged and will need to be kept in aquatic growing soil.

If desired, you can complement your indoor water garden with some beach or ocean themed decorations like a dried sea fan plant, sand dollars, tiny starfish or even barnacle clusters.

Before we add our decorations, let’s put everything together starting with the base material for the bottom of the container.

After adding the base material it’s time to fill the container with water and top it off with the floating plant, place a marimo inside, or bury the submerged aquarium plant pot into the base material, whichever option you have chosen… and you’re done!

Where Can I Find Aquatic Plants?

A good variety of aquatic/aquarium plants can be purchased at aquarium stores, larger pet stores, and also online. 

Wait? I can get live plants delivered through the mail? The answer is yes you can! I have ordered a few myself and they always arrived alive. They may not always look their best when you get them but this is to be expected. They will “come back to life” after planting and receiving some sunlight… usually within a week or so.

The online seller will ship the plants in protective packaging, sometimes including a heat pack if the weather is cold. Depending on the plant type the seller will also either ship the plant or plants in a sealed container of water or inside a plastic bag with the roots wrapped in moist paper towels to prevent drying out.

Here is a picture of a floating water lettuce plant I bought from a seller on Etsy for $5 plus tax (they offered free shipping):

This is a very convenient option if you do not have a retailer nearby that sells the plants you want because you can find nearly anything relatively cheaply online. I recommend you first try Amazon, Ebay, and Etsy. The sellers on those platforms have ratings and reviews you can look at to see if they are worth your money. 

I advise you to only purchase from highly rated sellers with good customer reviews. Also consider whether the seller is in your country or overseas. Some sellers guarantee you will receive a living plant or they will send you a replacement.

Adding Wildlife To An Indoor Container Water Garden

I wanted to mention a few colorful living creatures you can add to your miniature water garden. Small freshwater shrimp and exotic freshwater snails (pictured below) are a great way to add interest. They are sold at aquarium stores and also online.

I’ve seen the indoor water garden images on Pinterest featuring small beta fish and goldfish in them. I’m not quite sure that fish can be happy and healthy in such a small environment and therefore cannot truly recommend doing this. 

I’m fairly knowledgeable about aquatic plants because of my water gardening hobby but I am by no means an aquarium fish expert, so you may want to do your own research on that.

Thanks for reading everyone and I hope you enjoy your new indoor water garden!