The secret to getting Water Hyacinth to bloom.
Water Hyacinths are native to South America, where they bloom like crazy! That means they aren’t going to really thrive until it gets warmer. Don’t put them in the pond at all until the chance of frost has passed.
In Colorado, in Zone 5 (and higher in the mountains too) they are an annual. They will die off in the winter, leaving us the season to get those water hyacinth to bloom! They are perennials only in Zones 9 and warmer.
Each bloom spike has 6 to 12 flowers and will last for 1 day! Water Hyacinth will bloom almost continually while it is warm with the right conditions.
Why are they not blooming?
I did not know this right away, so at first, I could not understand why I never saw the light purple blooms on my Water Hyacinth that I saw on the internet. In fact, none of the ponds of people I worked with were blooming either. I thought maybe they just didn’t bloom in Colorado. I was wrong!
The secret to getting them to bloom is to put them in a place where they will quickly become crowded. Do not move them or try to give them more space! They may be in an area in the stream or in the pond and once they begin to be crowded enough they will bloom! The bloom usually lasts for one day and then it dies back.
What about a hoop?
Some people like to put them in a floating hoop to keep them from being caught in the skimmer. This works well and you may need to tie the hoop to something to keep it in one place. They won’t crowd until they are really crowded in that hoop!
Water Hyacinth looking strange?
Once in a while, the Water Hyacinth leaf edges turn yellow. This may happen if they have essentially used up the nutrients in the pond. If you have a lot of fish this should not be an issue.
If it happens you can always pull some out and put them in a bucket of water that you have dissolved either some waterlily fertilizer (if you have some) or even a regular flower fertilizer like Miracle Grow. Then return them to the pond. Make sure you do NOT pour the fertilized water into the pond!