Common Nardoo

Common Nardoo (Marsilea drummondii) is an Australian native water fern that looks like a four-leaf clover. Soft, silvery-green, four-lobed leaves float on shallow water or stand up 10 to 20cm above wet mud, spreading by creeping rhizomes into a low carpet. It comes from the inland floodplains, so it copes with drying out and comes back when the water returns.

Why you'll love it

• Four-leaf clover foliage. The neat four-lobed leaves are unlike anything else in a pond and always get noticed.
• Floats or stands. In water the leaves lie on the surface; on mud at the edge they stand upright, so it blends water into land.
• Forgives a dry spell. If a bowl or shallow pond dries out, the rhizomes rest and reshoot when it is refilled.
• Made for frog ponds. The low cover at the waterline is used by native frogs and small pond creatures.
• No fuss. It needs no pruning beyond pulling out what you do not want.

Where it works best

Frog ponds and shallow edges. Plant 30 to 40cm apart in water up to 30cm deep, or in the mud at the margin. The plants join into a carpet within a season.

Water bowls. A single pot covers a bowl. It makes a soft green floor beneath a taller rush or sedge.

Bog gardens. Use it as groundcover in ground that stays wet, where it fills the gaps between clumping plants.

Growing Common Nardoo in Australia

Position and climate. Sun to part shade. The leaves are most silvery in full sun. It suits subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate, Mediterranean and arid or semi-arid gardens, given water.

Soil and planting depth. Heavy loam or clay, in a pot or straight into mud. Water can be anywhere from just covering the soil to 30cm deep. It is a still-water plant.

Water and feed. Keep it wet for continuous growth. It rarely needs fertiliser. Too much nutrient only makes it run faster.

Pruning. It spreads by creeping rhizomes, so in a small pond pull out the excess two or three times a year, or grow it in its own pot to hold it in place. Being a fern, it has no flowers. It is grown for foliage only and is not a plant to eat.

What to expect when it arrives

We sell Common Nardoo in 140mm pots in packs of 10. Ten pots edge a good-sized frog pond or carpet a bog garden, and one is enough for a bowl. Plants arrive potted and damp, not submerged, and should go into water or wet soil promptly. Leaves can flop or dry at the edges in transit. Put the pot in shallow water and fresh leaves unfurl from the rhizome within a fortnight in the warm months. Our growers do not hold every size all year, so a size can show as on backorder at times. An order for a backorder size is confirmed with you before anything ships.

Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Water plants for Australian ponds and bowls
• Australian native plants
• How to design a native garden for wildlife
• Groundcover plants

Common questions

Is Nardoo really a fern?

Yes. It is an aquatic fern, even though the leaves look like clover. It reproduces by spores, not seed, and never flowers.

What happens if my pond dries out?

The leaves die back and the rhizomes wait in the mud. Once water returns, new leaves appear. That is how it survives on inland floodplains.

Will it cover the whole pond?

It keeps to shallow water, up to about 30cm deep, so in a pond it stays around the edges. In a shallow bowl, thin it now and then.