Gift that became an obsession — Hornwort

Someone gave me Hornwort as a birthday gift and I barely knew what it was. Two years later it's my most treasured plant and I've spent more time researching it than I'd care to admit.

The key discovery was removing dying foliage in autumn before it rots and reduces water quality — once that clicked, the plant transformed. natural filtration improving water clarity and quality is what gets mentioned every time anyone visits. I keep it in a natural wildlife pond with naturalistic marginal planting which works perfectly. overwintering dormancy in the pond bed is when I understand why this plant has such devoted followers. blanketweed algae competing for nutrients in established ponds is the one ongoing challenge but it's worth the effort.