Pink pond cover - Water smartweed

This is a pond (or a small part of it) from my hometown. I know it since I was a little kid and for many years I was passing it by on my way from and to school since it is right next to it.

The pond is not big, rather shallow and most of the time looks pretty muddy. But we do have ducks and swans there.

Last time I went to have to have a little walk in that park I saw a new thing:

Persicaria amphibia

This was the very first time I saw those flowers growing there. I am not sure of someone actually planted them, or they appeared magically (which means some seeds or parts of plants brought by ducks that fly between the ponds around).

It is also knows as Water smartweed or Willow-grass. It can be natively found in Europe, North America and Asia and apparently it is a common weed. But since it is quite pretty it is often used in garden ponds as ornamental plant.

Now here is something interesting I found:

Persicaria amphibia produces a thick stem from its rhizome. The stem may creep, float, or grow erect, rooting at stem nodes that come in contact with moist substrate. Stems are known to reach 3 meters (10 feet) long in aquatic individuals.

It may be an aquatic plant, growing submerged or floating in water bodies, it may grow in muddy and wet areas which are periodically inundated, and it may grow in moist spots on land, such as in meadows.
_source

My pond is not very deep. I would say 1m in the middle, so I can imagine how the stems crawl and root closer to the edges where there was is maybe 50cm deep.

But if you would like to check some images in Google, you will see that some of them grow line normal plants - quite tall on stiff stems and with leaves along them.
That is quite a differentiation!

I like those old plant graphics that show all the elements so here is one :)

The leaves are long and slim, maybe 15-20 cm, The flowers are very small, pink and form little clusters on top of the stems. A bit like Grape hyacinth, though the single blooms are larger.

The photos I took in June, which is one of the hottest months in Poland. The blooming peak is in the late summer (July-August). Soon after the flowers and leaves will fade. The pond freezes in winter and (with a bit of luck) is covered in snow.

In spring, around April if the temperature allows they will start growing again.

---

Here is a little bonus shot. As I was trying to catch the flowers I noticed lots of those little Damselflies around. They would fly a bit and the sit on the nearest plant. They all would take off again for a few minutes, and then rest again.
Amazing insects, pity they get spooked so easily.

»«
_{Shot with Nikon D5500 + Tamron 70-300mm lens
All photos and text are my own.}