Creeping Jenny Pond Plant - Care & Grow Guide
by Tory Jon | Last Updated: November 15, 2022
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Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia nummularia) is a creeping marginal, bog, or shoreline plant for pond edges, waterfalls, and damp containers. It is not a submerged oxygenating plant.
The characteristic green foliage adds beauty to your pond by cascading down the rockery of your waterfall, emerging from the shallow edges of your pond, or spreading down the sides of a planting container.
The beauty of the Creeping Jenny plant, which is often referred to as Moneywort, is further highlighted by its bright-yellow blooms, as well as its fast growth – up to 6 inches in height and 18 inches in spread - all in a season.
Creeping Jenny never loses its green spring color throughout the fall, making it the planters’ favorite and the ideal filler in between rocks and around waterfalls.
Invasive Potential: Moderate. NC State Extension describes creeping Jenny as Lysimachia nummularia, a creeping groundcover that readily roots where leaf nodes touch soil and can be weedy or aggressive.
Treat it as a creeping marginal, bog, or shoreline plant rather than a submerged oxygenating plant. Use a container or fully enclosed pond, and avoid wetlands, drainage ditches, natural shorelines, and flood-prone sites. Never release unwanted pond plants, roots, seeds, rhizomes, or trimmings into lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, drainage ditches, storm drains, or natural ponds.
Scientific Name
Lysimachia nummularia
Invasive Potential
Moderate
Common Names
Moneywort, Creeping Charlie, Goldilocks Creeping Jenny, Golden Creeping Jenny
Plant Type
Light Requirements
Full Sun to Partial Shade
Hardiness Zones
USDA 4-10
Bloom
Summer
Grow Up To
Vertical: 1 to 4 inches
Spread: 12 to 18 inches
Water Depth
Shallow waters up to 2 inches
How to Plant Creeping Jenny In A Pond
Plant creeping Jenny in a pot, fabric aquatic planter, or other contained edge planting rather than directly into natural pond banks. Set the container in consistently moist soil or very shallow water so the crown stays near the surface.
The stems creep outward and can root wherever nodes touch moist soil, so trim runners before they cross into drainage areas, wetlands, natural shorelines, or flood-prone ground. This plant is best used in fully enclosed ornamental ponds and controlled waterfall edges.
When planting, add the plant to a container with heavy aquatic planting media. Spread the roots over the media, cover lightly, and keep the crown from being buried too deeply. Do not use bagged potting mix or similar lightweight soils because they can float and muddy your pond water.
Creeping Jenny Care Guide
It is best to trim or prune your creeping jenny plants once the flowers and leaves start turning brown or yellow. Removing them completely will minimize the amount of excess organic material in the water body.
Once winter arrives, the stems and leaves start to die off. For plants planted directly into a bog area, it is best to only trim the dead foliage to 1-2 inches above the top of the water. For plants in planting containers or on plant shelves, it is best to trim the dead foliage to 1-2 inches before lowering them carefully into the deeper water of the pond.
Once winter starts rounding up, retrieve the submerged plants, especially before the ice gets permanently thawed and the plant starts growing. If you are in zones 6 and warmer, you may leave the plant in place without moving them, and there will be no problems.
Responsible Disposal
Never release creeping jenny plants, roots, seeds, rhizomes, or trimmings into lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, drainage ditches, storm drains, or natural ponds. Do not dump pond or aquarium water containing plant fragments into natural waterways.
Creeping Jenny stems can root from nodes, so gather every runner and trimming. Dry, bag, and trash removed material rather than tossing it into a bog, ditch, compost pile near water, or natural pond.
Creeping Jenny Care Card
Download our free printable care card for the Creeping Jenny plant! Click the care card below and save the PDF file to your computer. You can easily print off the 3x5 care card or access it right from your phone. Get all the important information you need to keep your Creeping Jenny plants healthy and happy!
Plus, we provide a blank card for you to print and fill out yourself. Print it as many times as you like to create cards for all your plants!
Pond Plant Care Card Set
Get the full printable set of 23 pond plant care cards in one PDF. The cards are formatted for quick reference on your phone or easy 3x5 printing.
