Surfsteve I love water plants but many look at them as mostly bad. My most favorite plant of all is the yellow water iris. It grows around the edges of your pond in a foot or so of water and on land a couple of feet from the water. It is tough yet beautiful. Given enough years it will invade cattails and start crowding them out. I like spiker rush that grows around the edges of a pond in a foot of water. With these plants you can fish from the bank of you pond and not get hung up. Other plants depend of what you are after. Fishing, looking, experimenting as a laboratory, providing oxygen into your water and food. I have planted the worst plant you could plant in most peoples eyes. Eurasian Milfoil. But the fish, bugs, frogs, turtles and birds loved it. Contrary to what you read that fish won't swim into thick foliage I watched my big fish from high on my deck have a choice of swimming in the clear water or going through the jungle of Eurasian Milfoil and they would choose the milfoil. It grew so thick that when I tried to row a boat I could barely lift the oars because milfoil was hanging on them. My grass carp eliminated the milfoil in 4 years but it was all fun to watch. I also like water lilies a lot. But that’s just me.
