"Pat" wrote in message
et...
I've had zero experience with ponds and have a basic question which
I
haven't found addressed anywhere online or in a book. Either I'm
looking in
the wrong places, my question is too dumb, or no one who's written
about
ponds remembers what it was like to know absolutely nothing about
them.

My question is this: If, as I understand it, the pond needs oxygen
in the
water to keep from stagnating and to support fish, and if certain
plants are
generally used for this purpose, and if one needs a liner in the
pond to
keep the water from seeping back into the earth, how are the plants
to take
root? Obviously they can't get any nourishment from the pond liner
and would
damage it if the roots penetrated it.

I'm having a real problem getting a grasp on this concept. And and
all help
will be appreciated, as I am trying to plan my first pond.

You'll get lots of answers but let me try
a starter. Many pond plants do fine taking
nutrients from the water column. I had my
hardy water lily in a pot, it outgrew it, I split
it several times, tossed it in other ponds and
the "babies" are doing fine without being
potted. Then there are the floaters, which
don't need to be potted although some can
be. Anacharis is one that does well in my
ponds, as well as hornwort. I think I have some
Parrot's feather growing in and out of pots.

Some people will argue your fish will eat the
plants, which is true, but if you have goldfish
(not koi) and a LOT of plants compared to fish
(as I do), there should be no problem maintaining
plant stock. Heck, if you lived near me I could
give you a lot of excess I typically end up
dumping on the compost pile!

BTW one of my ponds is "in-ground",
i.e., a liner on top of clay. The other two
ponds are stocktanks - hard plastic. All
pond plants I use work well in all my ponds.

Gail
near San Antonio TX USA