Pond 'edging' plant - any ideas?

Astraeus

Morning folks,

I've got some edging in my pond that needs to be softened up with planting, see here:



My idea is to plant something in between the pebbles and let it raft out over the lip of the liner. I'd wondered about putting a couple of brooklime plants in there but would welcome any other ideas? The pond is already well-stacked with emergent plants so I'm keen for something which doesn't have much height and I've already earmarked a couple of other spots for lysimacchia.

Thanks,

A.

didyw

I've got a hart's tongue fern in a similar situation and it's very happy there.
 

zugenie

Campanula poscharskyana would be nice, it kind of mounds and spreads so would work nicely there.

is it wet enough for brooklime? It might be happy if it trails into the pond and send roots out, I don’t know enough to say for sure but I have it in my marginal area and the bits in the water have loads of roots

Astraeus

@didyw, is the fern planted in the water? How interesting. I would prefer something more prostrate/rafting, however.

@zugenie, the gravel bed is around 3-5cm deep where I'd plant it so there would be space for the roots to go down to be permanently wet. I think it'd be too wet for the campanula as its roots would be permanently underwater.

LG_

Brookline has spread out of my pond (with my permission) into a (usually but not always damp) bed and my very dry lawn, so I think it would do the job well. 

Astraeus

Thanks @LG_. Having come across a thread about brooklime on this very forum (https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/999503/brooklime-and-water-forget-me-nots), I wonder whether I might be better off with forget me not. The space is only around 25cm x 45cm so I don't want something utterly rampant that is likely to take over!

Jellyfire

Id be more inclined to plant something on the dry side to cover the liner personally, will give you much less of a headache about it running rampant in the pond, and will not swamp your beach area. Brooklime would certainly grow in those pebbles but would need controlling. 

Astraeus

That's an idea @Jellyfire. What sort of plant do you think would work?

Fairygirl

I'd use something in the soil too. The liner's been cut a bit too shy, which makes it hard to cover by using a marginal pond plant.
If the soil's reasonably damp, Caltha would be fine there, and will spread across into the water too. You could have both - in the water and beside. 
The better behaved Carexes  would grow out over the edges too, or Uncinias. 
I also have Saxifrages beside some of my pond edges and Hellebores. Heucheras if it's shady, or even in sun if the soil's moisture retentive enough. 
All of those are evergreen, pretty much, so you wouldn't see the liner at any point.
You could also move some of the soil away, and tuck the liner in under it, adding some more pebbles/gravel as well to hide most of it.   

zugenie

Apologies I misread and thought you were planting in the soil side!

Pete.8

I agree that brooklime will work, as mine is spreading all over the place.
However I planted creeping Thyme Jekka which looks good and only gets to about 2-3" high


and on the other side is dwarf Greek oregano which gets smothered in pink flowers (and bees) too and grows to about 4-5" high. The rest of that lip is almost covered now.

Both also smell lovely of course.
The only downside is that they're not evergreen, so looks bare in winter