Commercial nurseries utilize large amounts of water and nutrients during the production cycle of container-grown plants. Excess water contaminated with N and P can impact the quality of surface water and groundwater. Earlier work by the authors found that constructed wetlands are highly efficient for removing N at water temperatures above 15 °C. However, PO4 removal was highly variable with uptake coinciding with periods of active plant growth and net export occurring during all other periods. Ornamental plants that remediate nutrients, especially phosphorus, would be very useful in designing constructed wetlands for commercial nurseries and greenhouses, rain gardens, and homeowner buffer strips. A greenhouse study was initiated in 2003 at Clemson Univ.'s Biosystems Research Complex to screen commercially available ornamental plants for their phytoremediation potential. Among others, these included the woody ornamental plants Cornus amomum, Myrica cerifera `Emperor', and Salix integra `Hakura Nishiki' and the semiaquatic herbaceous ornamental plants Canna `Bengal Tiger' and `King Humbert', Colocasia esculenta `Illustris', Rhynchospora colorata, Iris virginica `Full Eclipse, Pontederia cordata `Singapore Pink', and Thalia geniculata `Red Stem'. Plants were grown in pea gravel media kept saturated with one of five concentrations of Hoagland's Solution. Herbaceous and woody ornamental plants were harvested after 8 and 13 weeks, respectively. Water usage and biomass production were measured and nitrogen and phosphorus uptake was assessed. Experiments were replicated twice for each cultivar. Results indicate several species have the potential to be used in phytoremediation systems.