[Shearno]

This is a guide i got from English Nature for native plants, the numbers stand for pond size suitability, 1 being a small pond, 2 a medium and 3 a large pond :


Native plants for garden ponds
Submerged plants
Curled pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) 1 Also fennel pondweed (P. pectinatus)
Water starwort (Callitriche stagnalis) 1 Floating rosettes of rounded leaves
Rigid hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum) 1 Thickly-tufted plant, vigorous
Water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) 1 Caution! NOT Myriophyllum
aquaticum
Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis)* 1 Partly floating, attractive white
flowers
Floating leaf plants
Broad-leaved pondweed 2 Excellent for habitat
(Potamogeton natans)
Frogbit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) 1 Attractive white flowers
Floating sweet-grass (Glyceria fluitans) 2-3 Good habitat; plant at the margin to
float out
Yellow water-lily (Nuphar lutea) 2 ‘Brandy bottle’: smells of alcohol
Fringed water-lily(Nymphoides peltata) 2 Fringed yellow flowers like buttercup
Water soldier (Stratiotes aloides) 2-3 Impressive spiky plant that sinks in
winter
White water-lily (Nymphaea alba) 3 Beautiful, but too vigorous for most
gardens
Shallowwater emergents
Amphibious bistort (Persicaria amphibia) 1 Pink flower stalks, dark green leaves
Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpiodes) 1-2 Small, pale blue flowers
Lesser spearwort (Ranunculus flammula) 1 Less spectacular, less invasive than
spearwort
Spearwort (Ranunculus lingua) 2-3 Giant water buttercup, to 90cm high
Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) 1-2 Arrow-head leaves, and small white
flowers
Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) 1 Blue flowers, straggly, good at the
pond edge
Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliate) 2-3 Beautiful, invasive but easy to control

Tall emergents
Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus) 1-2 Very pretty pink-flowering rush
Branched bur-reed (Sparganum erectum) 3 Unusual spiky flower, semi evergreen
Water mint (Mentha aquatica) 2-3 Pretty, scented leaves, invasive, good
for bees
Water plantain (Alisma plantago-aquatica) 2 Small pink flowers, up to 1m high
Greater pond-sedge (Carex riparia) 2-3 Makes good invertebrate habitat
Lesser bulrush (Typha angustifolia) 2-3 Not for small ponds
Common reed (Phragmites australis) 3 Fine plant, but too big for most ponds
Marginal and bog plants
Bugle (Ajuga repens) 1 Very pretty, deep blue, good for insects
Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) 1-2 Superb low yellow-flowering plant
Hard rush (Juncus inflexus) 2 Less invasive than soft rush; brown
fruits
Lady’s smock (Cardamine pratensis) 1 Pretty pale purple flowers
Yellow flag (Iris pseudacorus) 2 Superb yellow flowers, red seed
capsules
Ragged robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi) 1 Pretty, delicate pink flower
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) 2 Great red-purple spikes
Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) 2 Fine yellow-spiked plant
Marsh woundwort (Stachys palustris) 1-2 Pale purple flower spikes
Great willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) 3 Tall red-flowered plant, seeds freely
Hemp agrimony (Eupatorium cannabinum) 3 Impressive red-purple flowers, seeds
freely
Royal fern (Osmunda regalis) 2-3 Superb native fern, dislikes lime

Suitability 1 2 3 Plants appropriate for all ponds, including small ones.
2 Plants rather too big or vigorous for smaller ponds.
3 Plants best reserved for larger ponds only.

* Most crowfoots do best where the water level drops to expose a muddy margin on which the seeds germinate.

Shearno