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Re: Bacopa myriophylloides - small plants



Hi Naomi,

>Are there any stem plants out there that grow excruciatingly slowly? I
>really don't care to prune constantly. Also, I only have 5" to work with
>vertically. Seems like the only plants that stay this short are rosettes.

I use micranthemum micranthemoides as a 'stem plant' in my small tanks,
either as a slowish growing foreground plant that I clip back weekly, or let
it grow taller into a clump, then just pull whole strands out every so
often.  My favourite groundcover is lilaeopsis, it grows at most 2" tall,
and fills in even in low light tanks if you give it a bit of sunlight, an
hour or so a day.  I have lilaeopsis and micranthemum clipped as a
foreground in one of my small tanks, some striking red rocks from out the
back of a place I was renting, a red crypt and small echinodorus
(parviflora?) as features, plus some vallisnera torta to play off the
lilaeopsis (hasn't got too big yet!); and ludwigia palustris and bacopa
caroliniana as backdrops, they both need pruning each week, but not as bad
as other stem plants.  But in 5" height, they might be too much.   I also
like micranthemum umbrosum, grows a bit faster than the other one, but easy
to prune by pulling sections out to thin out the clumps, and it is a nice
bright lime green for contrast.  I also have river pebbles with java fern or
moss attached in other small tanks.

Kind regards,

Susi Barber
Vancouver