Easy breeding natives to add to pond/bog filter?

[Noto]

All right, sounds good. When you add plants it will probably be best to put them in pots; the gravel will not be a good rooting medium until the filter's been running a while and has plenty of organic muck in it.

Some native plants I would look at:

submersed plants:

fanwort (Cabomba caroliniana)
coontail (Ceratophyllum demersum)
elodea (Elodea canadensis)
- all familiar aquarium plants

floating-leaved plants:

American white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) - classic water lily, large fragrant flowers
spatterdock (Nuphar advena) - smaller, with yellow flowers
pondweed (Potamogeton species) - submerged and floating leaves, small club-like flowers
marsh pennywort (Hydrocotyle species) - small round leaves, small yellow flowers

emergents with broad leaves:

water primroses (Ludwigia species) - low vegetation, pretty yellow flowers, 6-12"
water willow (Justicia americana) - small leaves, purple or white flowers, 12-24"
pickerelweed (Pontederia cordata) - large leaves, pretty purple flower spikes, 24-30"
golden club (Orontium aquaticum) - large leaves, golden club-like flower
cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) - pretty red flowers, 30-36"
lobelia (Lobelia species) - pretty blue flowers, 18-36"
arrowhead (Sagittaria species) - arrow- or spear-shaped leaves, white flowers, 12-30"
green arrow arum (Peltandra virginica) - large arrow-shaped leaves, 18-24"
knotweed (Polgonum species) - form dense stands, small white or pink flower spikes, 12-30"
swamp dock (Rumex verticillatus) - reddish stems, large leaves, 24-36"
water plantain (Alisma subcordata) - large leaves, small flowers, 18-24"
rose mallow (Hibiscus laevis, H. moscheutos) - interesting leaves, enormous white or pink flowers, 30-48"
swamp loosestrife (Decodon verticillatus) - pretty purple flowers, 18-30"

grassy emergents:

horsetail (Equisetum hyemale) - tall dark jointed stems, 24-48"
burr reed (Sparganium americanum) - strap-like leaves, spiky flowerhead, 24-30"
swamp iris (Iris species) - sword-like leaves, large attractive flowers, 12-36"
sedges (Carex species), flat sedges (Cyperus species), rushes (Juncus species), spikerushes (Eleocharis species) - grassy foliage, often interesting flowerhead or fruit shapes, very diverse, 6-36"

There are many many others, but this should get you started! If you have some shallow marginal areas you can also grow smaller species like marsh marigolds, buttercups, mud plantains, and so on.

 

[Conner]

Wow that's a lot of plants! I think that's more of a selection than I'll need. I'll probably start simple, get a couple of species established, and then fill in as I need to/want to.

I will have one shallow area in the main pond that will be sloped from a few feet deep to the edge of the pond, and there will be a "platform" of about 9 sq ft that will only be 4-6" deep. This is going to be the area for my turtles to crawl out of the pond, and for any turtles or fish to bask in the water if they'd like to.

 

[Noto]

Be wary of herons or raccoons using an area like that as a convenient feeding station. You may want to either place bird netting over it or crisscross it with strings tied to stakes.

 

[Conner]

I'll keep an eye out for them. We don't get much wildlife in my back yard other than finches, sparrows, robins and cardinals wanting to get a dirt bath. I have two large dogs that pretty much scare anything else away. The only "large" animal I've seen in the yard in the last 4 years was a possum, and that was 3 years ago.

The dogs are scared to go into water, so I don't have any worries about them ending up in the pond. They're scared to even step in puddles an inch or two deep sometimes .

 

[Noto]

LOL. Dogs can be funny. Your dogs will probably keep raccoons away, but not herons. Herons are good at spotting water from the air and like to check out new ponds. If they learn that the pond is full of delicious fish, they'll make it a regular stop. Being in a city won't help much either; I've seen plenty of herons flying over downtown Nashville, Memphis, and other large cities.

 

[Conner]

Well, I'll keep an eye out, and if I notice a problem I'll use bird netting or some string crossed over the bog to keep them out.