The water lilies will do better if you buy dwarf and or small spread varieties and plant them in your shallow area. Most lilies will eventually escape the pots when potbound. Hybrid, not wild, esp the small variety lilies will spread very slowly in compacted pond dirt.

Instead of cattails use the wild blue water iris - Iris versicolor. They spread slower, grow shallower, stay shorter, and much easier to manage. In the shallow area you can also use pickerel weed and spike rush, both grow wild in Canada waters. Collect your own.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iris_versicolor
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Iris_versicolor_Quebec_2.jpg

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/eleocharis_palustris.shtml
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontederia_cordata

Last edited by Bill Cody; 04/17/17 10:34 AM.

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