This will be my third piece of writing on what plants to grow in your pond. I have written a brief description about various marginals, but here I am going to write about some of my favourites. This is purely my own preferences and they suit my fishpond or how I would like my fishpond to look. It's possible you'll not like my choices because we all have our own favourites, but here we go with my favourites.

Houttuynia (Houttuynia)

This one is an easy to grow carpeter for planting between the taller specimens, but you have to grow it in a container to keep its invasive nature in check. The stems are red and the bluish-green leaves are distinctly heart shaped. It grows 6 inches to 1 foot high and in early summer the cone-shaped flowers appear, each one surrounded by 4 white bracts. Houttuynia cordata bears single flowers. The double flowered variety 'Plena' being the preferred one. 'Variegata' has the most colourful foliage, reddish green splashed with yellow and cream but with hardly any flowers. The recommended planting depth is 2-4 inches, it can grow quite happily at the surface or merely in damp soil, however the roots are damaged in winter if they are exposed to frost or ice.

Hypericum (Marsh St John's Wart)

There is only one species - Hypericum elodes. This lowly relative of the well known Rose of Sharon which grows in shrub borders everywhere thrives happly in mud or an inch of water. Its stems and mass of small rounded and wooly leaves make this a useful carpeter for growing between taller plants including Iris or for disguising the perimeters of your rigid fishpond. It spreads about 18 inches and in July to August, small yellow bowl shaped flowers are borne on the tips of the stems. It grows about 9 inches to 1 foot in height and the recommended planting depth is 0 - 2 inches.

Mentha (Water Mint)

Water Mint (Mentha Aquatica) is a useful creeping plant which may be used to hide the edge of the fishpond. It is simple to grow and spreads rapidly, which can be an issue if you have small choice specimens growing nearby. The rule is to grow it in a basket and trim back stems which are becoming invasive.The rounded leaves are hairy and sometimes take on a purplish tinge. As you would expect, the foliage is aromatic when crushed. In mid and late summer it becomes a gorgeous flowering plant. The tiny lavender flowers are grouped together in miniature powder puffs which are borne in whorls along the stems. These flowers are especially attractive to bees. Water Mint grows 12 - 18 inches high and the recommended planting depth is 0 - 3 inches.

I have said often before, not all Marginals have much use in the fishpond. In fact I would go so far as to say that a great many of them don't have any use at all, but if you are careful in your selection they could help to make a plain, boring pond suddenly come to life. There is a lot more Marginal plants to write about, but I wanted to these a mention as some of my own personal favourites.