Native plants for the wildlife pond

You need three different types of plant in any pool:

Submerged and floating plants to serve as oxygenators

Essential to a healthy pond because they supply the oxygen that pond animals need and use up dissolved nutrients.

Submerged plants with floating leaves

You should have enough to cover about half the surface of the pond, to avoid problems with excessive algal growth. Water lilies come in a wide range of colours and sizes and are valuable for this purpose as well as being decorative. Native species are too vigorous for any but large ponds. The table lists other suitable native plants.

Marginal plants, in shallow water at the pond edge

They contribute shade and cover for animals and make up much of pond's visual appeal. They are also used by creatures such as dragonfly nymphs to crawl up out of the water to pupate.