Floating Treatment Wetland Cut-Flower Guide for Virginia
Samantha Wilson
Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are a type of sustainable infrastructure that work to improve water quality. FTWs are buoyant plots that allow plants to grow on top of the water. These plants can then improve water quality by removing excess nitrogen and phosphorus that can accumulate in water from wastewater, stormwater, and agricultural runoff. In order to not reintroduce pollutants taken up by the plants into the water, it maybe best practice to harvest them at maturity, like one would with cut-flowers. That said, what types of flowers would make the best candidates for production on FTWs? Here are my picks based on plant and customer preferences, sourced from an interest assessment where stakeholders where asked for their favorite plants to grow, buy, and sell.
Top Three: I couldn't choose just one!
Iris virginica, Virginia Iris
Native
Sun
Wet to Moist Soil
Season: Summer - Early Fall
Starting off strong, we have Virginia iris, a flower that I personally find to be underrated. It has cute purple flowers and long, attractive stems. I volunteered at the Virginia Living Museum and saw they had existing floating treatment wetlands full of thriving Virginia iris. The only concern I have when it comes to Iris virginica is deals with economic valuation. Although stakeholders seem to value native selections, irises were not specifically mentioned. Would preference for native flowers ring true when compared with more showy species? The only way to know is with more research!
Tagetes erecta, Aztec Marigold
Figure 2 hotography by Steve Jacobs
Non-native
Full Sun
Moist soil
Season: Summer - Early Fall
The Aztec Marigold is a flower known for its large flower head. These flowers rank highly on my list because they were tested in experiments by Locke-Rodriguez et al. (2023) and performed well. Given the climate of Virginia, I expect they would give a similar performance as they did in Florida, if grown locally during the warm season. One downside to these is that they are not native, which goes against the majority preference of people polled on what plants they are interested in buying and selling.
Helianthus annuus, Singlestem Sunflower
Photo of Sunflowers from Gardenia
Native
Full Sun
Dry
Season: Late Spring - Summer |
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Stakeholders repeatedly listed native plants and sunflowers as flowers they are likely to buy, so you can't get much better than this. These flowers rank highly for me due to their native status, their profitability, and popularity among customers. The only downside is their poor performance in previous trials. In the same tests preformed by Locke-Rodriguez et al. (2023), singlestem sunflowers
died off early, but showed promise. The team concluded that under slightly different conditions, sunflowers could give a better performance.
Other Promising Options
While not in my top three picks, I believe that the following plants are still wonderful options for future research and truly hope to run trials on all of them.
Papaver nudicaule, Icelandic Poppy
|
Native
Full Sun
Moist
Season: Spring - Summer
Unlike the options in my top three, poppies have not been field tested (to my knowledge). Regardless, I think they would make great choice. Icelandic poppies are beautiful flowers that are native to North America (despite the name). Along with marigolds and sunflowers, poppies are a typical variety of cut-flower. This is a huge bonus because they have more available information on growing practices that can be modified for FTW purposes, and their familiarity in markets can aid in their sale. In opposition, some of the flowers in this guide are not grown for profit at the same scale, and thus have less literature to reference on growing practices and market performance.
Lilium superbum, Turk's-cap Lily
Native
Full Sun
Moist soil
Season: Summer - Early Fall
The Turk's-cap Lily is an absolutely stunning flower native to Virginia. It has gorgeous spotted orange blooms and can produce many of them on a single plant. In addition, this plant is native to swamps, which eases my concern about how it would preform in a FTW. That said, (based on my my personal experience) showy plants need to have good drainage in order to be successful. I have dealt with many soggy blooms because of this. Depending on the FTW design, it may not be possible to provide the amount of drainage necessary.
Hibiscus moscheutos, Eastern-Rose Mallow
Native
Part Sun/Shade
Wet to Moist Soil
Season: Summer - Early Fall
The eastern or swamp rose mallow is a plant in the hibiscus family that produces large blooms of tropical looking flowers. I believe their native status and moisture preference make them excellent candidates for FTW growth. Their downside comes with their blooms, which only last for one to two days. This dramatically limits their use in ornamental projects.
Monarda punctata, Spotted Beebalm
Native
Sun
Moist to Dry Soil
Season: Spring - Early Fall
This is one of the more unique looking plants, and I love it (as do the bees). Spotted beebalm is a Virginia native that sports small flowers surrounded by larger purple-pink bracts. It's unique appearance may make it less likely to used in bouquets, but it was mentioned multiple times by stakeholders as plants that people are interested in growing or buying. The downside, as you may have guessed after reading the plant's preferences, is its need for well drained soil.
Symphyotrichum puniceum, Swamp Aster
Native
Sun
Wet to Moist Soil
Season: Summer - Early Fall
While not usually this variety, asters are currently used as filler flowers in bouquets. The swamp aster offers a native alternative, which stakeholders value. Aster has good ecological value because it blooms later in the season than other plants, allowing it to be a resource for fauna active during that time. Additionally, with swamp in the name, I have high hopes for how it would preform in a FTW.
What the People Want to See
These plants were some of the most wildly identified as plants that customers are interested in purchasing. They are beautiful flowers, and staples in the cut-flower world. Growers can also benefit from growing them locally, due to damage that may occur while shipping. With such nice up-sides, it is difficult to say that these are currently not feasible for growth in a FTW. As mentioned with the Turk's-cap Lily, plants with are large, showy blooms are typically sensitive to water intake. These selections are no different, and well-drained soil is needed. Innovation in FTW floriculture will have to occur before these plants can enter their trial stage, innovation that I hope to contribute to.
Roses
The Grand Champion™ Double Red Rose from Brighter Blooms
Dahlias
Zinnias
Benary Giant Zinnia Mix from HossPeonies
An important thing to note among all native flower selections is that their nativity could become a hindrance to cut-flower production. Many plants could show blemishes from being eaten by omnivores and herbivores. Since native plants were specifically identified as flowers people would want to buy, hopefully these customers would be understanding and accepting to said blemishes. This may prove unlikely as quality was a common concern stakeholders had when choosing the source of their flowers. Marketing campaigns could do more to popularize native plants and extend an understanding imperfection.
Works Cited
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. (n.d.). Helianthus annuus. https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=hean3
Locke-Rodriguez, J., Troxler, T., Sukop, M. C., Scinto, L., & Jayachandran, K. (2023). Floating flowers: Screening cut-flower species for production and phytoremediation on floating treatment wetlands in South Florida. Environmental Advances, 13, 100405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2023.100405
Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia. (n.d.). Hibiscus moscheutos (Swamp or Eastern Rose-mallow). https://mgnv.org/plants/native-plants/perennials/hibiscus-moscheutos/
Missouri Botanical Garden. (n.d.). Tagetes erecta. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=a609
North Carolina Extension Gardener Toolbox. (n.d.). Tagetes erecta. https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/tagetes-erecta/
Plant HR Natives. (2025). Native Plants for Southeast Virginia including Hampton Roads Region. Plant Virginia Natives. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58e25c41e6f2e17ea4cb7766/t/696921accdcce65856ff0554/1768497580907/SEVA+Regional+Guide+-+Edition+2+11-7-25.pdf
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