Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Best weed

You should look at posts by Bill Cody on this topic. He has experience and will make some strong suggestions. I think that, like most pond topics, it depends on your vision for your pond and your goals. Is this about color and textures or is it about pond structure for fish habitat and spawing areas (perch, frogs and GSH place their eggs on plants). Do you want plants only around the perimeter or in large areas within the pond (provided by shallow areas in the pond bottom contour).

Much has been written and is available on-line around emergent versus submerged versus marginal plants. TAMU has a great website Tamu[/url] [url=https://aquaplant.tamu.edu] There are many on-line vendors of pond plants that can act as a source of ideas and your state's website likely includes lists of desired plants and invasives in your area. Your plan may include emergent plants such as rushes, sedges, iris, pickerel weed, arrow arum, arrowhead, American pondweed, and lilies, along with submerged clasping leaf pondweed, eel grass, and many more. Emergent plants may grow rather deep but typically require areas less than 4' to establish and your pond bottom contour needs to accommodate that. (Bill can give a better answer) One thing Bill will say is that you should look long term at each plant you add. Some, like American lotus, Spatterdock, and cattails can get out of control and take over your pond. Your good options are influenced not just by the plant, but also how you design your pond bottom contour.

Some examples found in nature that I like include floating gardens of lilles and American pondweed, and "meadows" of sedge, iris and pickerel weed. I use a "sedge meadow" at the inlets of my 1.25 acre pond because I like how it looks (they include over 10 species of sedges and rushes), and because it filters most of the leaves and sediment from the inlet water. It also provides nesting spots for redwing blackbirds and possible safe spawning for minnows and other prey. This requires an area about 1 foot deep or less, and since you will have 3 acres with much over 10' deep, you can play with the contour around the edge to provide areas for fish habitat, for lilies, and for aesthetics.

I also would look at marginal plants such as swamp milkweed, black eye susan, plants in the aster family, and various grasses. Many of these just come on their own.

Long thought, but it all comes down to your vision and your goals. Good Luck!