Hi all new here, half done small pond question about plant type and placement

[Grubwurm]

Hello all I'm after some advise on what plants to buy and suggestions on placement of them. Thanks here are a few pics of my pond and seating area. All advice and comments welcome

 

[sissy]

Welcome and looks like you have a nice setup and plants look great .The one where your waterfall is may need moved but the others with x's are fine as long as you know how big they will get and how there roots will spread .I have seen roots on plants near pond move rocks and cause problems with the liner .I think lou had problems with roots and his liner and a few others on here also

 

[Grubwurm]

Thanks do you mean the acer behind the waterfall? I was thinking the same to be honest, the rocks go all the way to the bottom of the pond all way round which are stepped at water level and half way to the bottom. The water fall has the pond liner wrapped up the back all the way to the top of the fall (about the hight of the blue circle and to just past the sides of it) to keep it water tight

 

[Sunshine]

Love your set up. And the seating area is so cool. I also had a problem with a zebra grass I planted close to the pond. The roots pushed the liner in. If you like big plants behind the pond, maybe plant them in a large pot and bury the pot. That way the roots are controlled.

 

[Grubwurm]

thanks sunshine and thats a real good idea to plant the bigger plants in pots to limit there root growth, i know the acer in the back corner would do well in a pot.

 

[sissy]

Even pretty brightly colored pots out of the ground make it look tropical .Great idea sunshine .I have to trim the roots in my pots in my filter every week or they will grow all over the filter media and then you can't get them out .Grasses clean the water but there roots are very aggressive

 

[j.w]

Grubwurm
Yep that Acer will shed leaves like crazy right into your pond and it will get lots of leaves. I have one near mine but where I have it the leaves blow the other direction and not into the pond fortunately.

One of my favorite plants near my pond is my Chinese Windmill Palm. They are cold hardy to our area. It will get very tall if I live long enough to see it.

The grassy plant in the middle is in a pot on a ledge. Someday it will bust that pot apart I fear.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

The Acer should not cause any problem left as it is. It is a very slow growing specie that the Japanese have used for centuries around their ponds. Growing plants in pots seems like a lot of unnecessary work...watering, fertilizing, re-potting.

 

[Sunshine]

I have my cattails in my pond in one of those big thin plastic barrel looking pots with handles. It's all warped out of shape, but the cattails still come up every year. I'm waiting for it to bust too. I water all my plants outside of the pond, so watering a plant in a buried or not buried pot isn't a problem. Maybe some type of root barrier you can hammer into the ground to stop the roots going towards your pond.

 

[Grubwurm]

thanks j.w and nice pond real nice. I don't mind netting the leaves out of the pond gives me an excuse to get out of the house away from the missus . So this is what i was thinking. If anyone can suggest the best candidates/plants for the places Ive out lined, much appreciated. keep in mind i live in the north of england (Yorkshire)

 

[j.w]

Well if you don't mind the leaves then just leave it be cuz it will add such beauty to your area. I love mine. I trained it to grow taller straight up for several years w/ a stake before I then let it sprawl outwards.

 

[Grubwurm]

im surprised the roots cause such a big issue. ive found a pic of it partially drained last summer to move some stone around could the roots move all this stone?

 

[j.w]

You might be surprised what plant roots can do especially cat tails. I had Iris stuck in between my rocks around the edge of my pond and they were in between some big rocks. The tuber root things grew so large they shoved some big rocks right down over the edge to the bottom of the pond. So then I decided to take them out from all the other rocks and what a job. I still am not done. You can see where they were in those pix above of my pond. The top picture they were smaller and more of them and the lower picture I had taken some out but there are still some left and they have grown bigger getting ready to shove more rocks in the pond.

 

[Sunshine]

Originally, I just had the cattails in the rocks in the pond. They took over that whole side of the pond. I was constantly pulling them out to thin them. When I took most of the rocks out, that's when I put them in a pot. I gave/threw away all but 3 stalks to put in the pot, now there are an abundance. The only thing I have in my rocks around the pond now is ground cover and some chocolate mint. And the mint I have to thin out occasionally. @j.w your pond is beautiful.

 

[j.w]

Thank you @Sunshine That cat tail is pretty much gone form my pond too. I may have a few of the mini ones left but not sure till Spring gets warmer and see if they sprout up again.