I'm not a keeper of eastern newts, but I'm pretty sure all newts need plants (they are required for laying eggs). When I first got my chinese fire belly newts, I kept them for over a year with no plants they lived fine but didn't breed, it was not until I put plants in their tank that they bred. If you are thinking about keeping plants with newts you have to make sure that the plants can cope with the same low temperatures that newts like, otherwise the plants will just fall apart and make a big mess. Another important fact to keep in mind is the type of plant newts like to lay their eggs on, some newts (usually small newts) only lay their eggs on elodea, others (larger newts) only lay their eggs on plants with larger leaves than elodea, the only way to make sure that you have met your newts requirements is by getting a mix of plants. Another way to make sure you get the right mix of plants that can cope with newt temperatures (because aquarium stores usually only sell tropical plants) is by getting them from a local pond, when doing this make sure you don't pick up any dangerous invertebrate stowaways (eg. dragonfly larvae, cray fish...), or the eggs of another kind of newt because they may carry an infection. when obtaining plants from both locations always check for blanket weed, a green tread like algae that coils around plants and other objects in the aquarium (I lost four newts because they got entangled in blanket weed). Also never ever put gardening soil (or any soil accept for maybe special pond soil) in either the water or the land side of an aqua-terrarium because there will be way to many nutrients in the water causing all kinds of algae to grow, the only time it is acceptable to do this is when you put the soil in the land side of an aqua-terrarium and there is a water proof barrier (glass) between the land and the water parts.
