Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants best way to plant lily pads??

If you are after a wildlife pond, you can also just plant in the mud bottom and expect the shallows to fill up over time. Planting in a tote first does help get them started though. If you have critters that eat them, consider fencing them off as well. I actually used thorny honeylocust branches for this so that they would just rot away over time. Everything from turtles to deer will pick on young water lilies, but once established, mine have been pretty tough.