Where to buy pond plants?

[BarbAZCA]

Thank you putting in the time to give me so much great information. I've had this pond for 18 years, but consider myself a novice.

I was so focused on making the sides vertical and the pond 2' deep to deter raccoons that I forgot to consider plant shelves (novice!!!) . My pond architect has a natural pond on his three acres so he probably didn't think about what I might need. I am very happy with the pond design. Just wish they'd taken extra time to get the cement dust out before filling the pond and suggest a pond shelf (they made a lot of great modifications to my original ideas during the design and install. Not cheap, but it gives me joy.

I'm going to look into all your informative suggestions: bog bean, reeds or mini-cattails (they were a nighmare a few years back when they grew into the rock and I had to remove everything - it was back breaking for me in my 60s at the time), plantings in the waterfall, how to tuck plants in to the sides. I had cannas next to the old pond but they blocked my viewing spot when they got four feet tall - definitely need to keep that in mind when I put plants around the pond.

Once again, thank you for the wealth of info you provided. Any suggestions on what types of shorter and taller flowering/color plants outside, around the edge, of the flagstone? I have a lot of research to do so I can get plants in before it heats up here and starts algae blooms. Need to ask my pond guy if it's possible to put a plant ledge around the farthest right edge; concerned that might be the way in for the raccoon.

And I keep my pump running year-round, especially during winter to give the fish oxygen. These are hardy goldfish, they don't hibernate. Looks like they feed off the decaying aquarium plants I put in last summer. My filter box has a basket with a changeable filter, behind that is the pump and float that maintains the water level. I may be able to put plants in the filter basket instead of a mesh filter and cover the auto leveler/pump portion with flagstone or something. You gave me so many good ideas.

 

[Lisak1]

To be honest, you may want to consider using annuals for color - I hear your concern about plants getting too big and taking over. It is indeed a back breaking job to get rid of certain plants when they are well established. I'm not familiar with your growing zone, but I bet things like petunias, marigolds, pentas, impatiens, etc would do well. They may suffer from the extreme heat, but anything that dies back at some point is easier to manage than hardy plants that continue to get bigger each year. You have some nice flat rocks on either side of your waterfall - a beautiful pot filled with annuals that you could change from season to season would be really pretty and fun. I love any chance I get to have to head back to the nursery for more plants!

I have a few different low, creeping plants outside of the pond that I enjoy - vinca stays low to the ground, spreads nicely, takes a bit of stepping on well, and comes in a few varieties. We also have flowering thyme (I think I have three different varieties actually) growing between our steppers - very pretty and fills in like a carpet. But check your local garden center to see what they have in abundance - that's a good clue as to what will do well in your garden. There are numerous low growing, spreading sedums that are pretty as edge plants and very hardy. Someone mentioned mint - grows great but it can be invasive. Hens and chicks are fun for spots where you can just pop something in - they like it hot and dry, but don't enjoy being walked on. Lamium is pretty if you have a spot that stays shady. And of course, creeping Jenny (from the moneywort family) is always a pond favorite - it will grow on the edge of the pond and spill right over the rocks into the water.

Look for the area of the nursery that has ground cover plants - there's a ton of them. I know what grows in my zone, but some of these may struggle in the AZ heat.

 

[BarbAZCA]

We had to drain and re-fill (I hated to waste 600 gallons of water that wasn't needed in my yard during winter) the pond to clear it up after I tried for a week with the usual filter mat backed up with 2x/daily changes of quilt batting (that sucks up very fine dust etc.!). We came to the conclusion it most likely was talc used on the liner when it was folded up - in my book it should have been rinsed before putting it in the pond. The granite rocks have started a nice algae coating - the goldfish finally have something to nibble on. The water is still clear but not for long as it will start to heat up here and create uncontrollable algae without plants - the pond will get six hours of hot sun.

Now I'm back to researching oxygenating plants that would be a source of goldfish food for in the pond. I am getting a water lily locally grown in the middle of this month for shade (we had another late hard freeze that killed lots of plants). In looking for submersibles and floating plants, so many seem invasive and may be hard to manage in my 6' diameter x 3' deep pond. A local grower (only one in this area other than the one that grows water lilies) has duckweed, parrot's feather, frogbit, and something he texted as hestaria (can't find anything about this). I narrowed it down to parrot's feather maybe being the easiest to grow in a container to hopefully manage spreading. Although I tried that long ago with cattails - very difficult to remove them once they escaped the pot and grew in to the rocks.

The raccoons are still an issue in that they hang over the sides and grab anything a foot down, including plants attached to the rock sides or potentially on the plant shelf that is 18" below the surface - anything growing upwards from there has the potential to get snagged by the coons.

Floating plants that aren't anchored to the bottom or low on the granite sides will most likely get sucked in to the filter box. Not sure if a plant ring attached to the side will contain them.

Using plant recommendations on the Forum for plants around the pond, I've started a rock garden along the edge of the pond/waterfall plus some other flowering plants (annuals and perennials).

Any thoughts you have on the least invasive pond plants will be appreciated.