Pickerelweed - Pontederia cordata

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Pontederia cordata, commonly known as Pickerelweed, is an aquatic plant native to Michigan and the Upper Peninsula.  It is an emergent plant, meaning the leaves and flower grow above the water while the base of the plant is submerged, and can reach 3 feet in height, measuring from the lake bed to the top of the flower.  Pickerelweed can tolerate fluctuating water levels and exposure of the base as long as the soil remains moist. The leaves are glossy and heart-shaped with a stalk of summer-blooming purple flowers.  The long-blooming flowers add color from June to September, and are particularly striking at their mid-summer peak. This plant enjoys full sun.
 
Pickerelweed's natural habitat is along the shore of inland lakes and ponds, protected bays, riverbanks, and wetlands.  Bees and butterflies utilize the flowers, while ducks, muskrats, deer, geese, carp, snails and many other animals and insects utilize the fruit and the rest of the plant.  Since this plant likes to spread in calm water by both seed and rhizome, such usage can help keep the colony in check. Various parts of Pickerelweed have also historically been used as a food source for Native Americans. 
 
Other benefits include providing habitat for fish, birds, insects, swimming mammals, amphibians and reptiles, who use the large leaves and clusters of stems as cover, food, and to anchor eggs, especially dragonflies.  Northern Pike, also known as Pickerel, are said to lurk under its leaves, giving the plant its common name. My son caught his first pike in a patch of Pickerelweed! The dense root system and stems also provide a wave barrier protecting shorelines from erosion.
 
Pickerelweed is a vigorous spreader, and should be planted in areas where it has room to colonize.  If you would like to keep it to a smaller area, it can be planted in a shallowly submerged container, but you will need to remove the seedheads.  If possible, allow it to spread and do its job creating aquatic habitat and controlling erosion, all while looking tropically lush.