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Image show the attractive blooms of Oenenthe javanuca Water Hyacinth

Family:  Pontederiaceae (Pickerelweed family)
Origin:  Brazil, South America
Light:  Full sun
Height:  0.5-1'
Spread:  12-15"
Blooms:  Lovely 6" spikes of lavender orchid-like flowers with a gold and blue peacock eye pattern on one of the petals, early Summer
Foliage:  Green, ladle-shaped, thick, leathery with spongy, inflated petioles that makes this plant buoyant in the water 
Propagation:  Division of plantlets.
Uses:  Small ponds, water garden
Caution:  Very invasive.  All parts of plant poisonous.  Handling plant cause allergic reaction.
Comments:  Eichhornia crissipes or Water Hyacinth is a free-floating herbaceous aquatic perennial with long greenish-purple roots.  An oxygenator, it provides oxygen to the fish and helps keep water clear.  They spread rapidly by stolons.  I keep them under control by removing excess plants regularly and use them as mulch for my other plants.  Eichhornia crassipes inhibits algae growth in my pond and provides shelter for my fishes. These plants are frost-tender but will spring right back with new growth after removing the dead leaves.  Water Hyacinth can be overwintered indoors in container of wet sandy loam at temperature of 60-70 degrees F. 
USDA Hardiness Zones :  8b-11
Interesting note:  This ornamental plant is named after JAF Eichhorn (1779-1856) a Prussian statesman.