I have put hosta bareroot in with hyacinth. I use a hula hoop tethered to the edge outside the pond to keep my floating plants from going in the skimmer. In my climate the hosta does better than hyacinth. I just have to remember to take it out early enough in the fall and put it in the ground.
Some people use impatiens. I never have because I like a more natural look in my pond. The search function is not working on this forum which is very annoying.

hmm.. Hosta huh? No dirt, just bare roots? And do you float them like hyacinth?

I have dug up yellow iris from my garden and planted them in the pond. I potted them in some clay soil. They love it.
I have recently begun to experiment with forget-me-nots. The jury is still out on that one yet.

i have planted hosted bareroot with a smaill pile of rocks over the roots and they grow like crazy. i also bare root planted water cress in the stream and also creeping jenny in the stream.

forget me knots do very well in ponds. In mine right now I have marshmarigolds,forget me knots, hosta, watercress,impatiens, iris, christmas fern, corkscrew rush....I think thats all.
Amaqan

Impatiens work fine. You may want to use something to support them but they can be planted soil-free on top of your biofilter or in the 1-3 inch deep water. One thing that I find helps with any of my plants in the pond is to dump in about 1 tablespoon (pond size is about 2500 - 3000 gallons) of "Stump remover" near the pump intake. This is really nothing more than adding potassium nitrate and hence no phosphorous. You can also add a similar amount of "liquid iron" to help green up your plants ... but only about every other week or so. Make sure the iron is in the "chelated form" not as iron sulfate or ferric chloride.
---David

Thank you, all. Since my post, I've put a baby hosta I found in my garden in the pond. And now I've bought a German iris -- but I don't think it would survive IN the pond, is that right?

I think I'm going to have to order a water iris from the internet. (I love them.)

Someone here said mint, so I tried some of my chocolate mint plant & it's doing good.

I put it in a pot with some dirt, the first couple days it looked wilty but it's doing good now. I don't have the water going over the top of the pot.

My marigolds are doing fine so far, will see when the summer heat hits (Georgia. Trying snapdragons, so far so good. I took the snadragons from the peat pot they came in and planted it with that small amount of dirt within the batting and pea gravel to see if that may help it a bit and still keep me pretty soil free. The vincia are also doing okay at this time - my test comes in July-August heat.

One key is to keep the crown above the water line.

I have violets, strawberry and cream grass, regular grass, globe flower, impatients, petunias, creeping jenny, rush, snow on the mountain, aster type weeds, creeping phlox..... and some others. If it is invasive......it will grow.

Regards,
Lisa

Floating islands can get any water loving plant into a pond. Our favorites are sun coleus and pitcher plants.

missa7 fyi beware! a couple of years ago i planted chocolate mint in a pot next to my small pond and by summer's end the roots had come out the bottom, spread in all directions, and also INTO the water and across the pond, the green mint leaves coming up between rocks on other sides. i don't think i will EVER be able to get rid of it. min

I second that caution on the mint. I put it in the cracks I had with a scoop of dirt 2 years ago..now it looks like a darn forest. Weed eat it down, I dare ya. Then it just goes in the water in pieces and ROOTS. OMG what a mess. It is great for beginning ponders on a small budget because it spreads quickly and takes up lots of nutrients...but still.
I have used the hula hoop and put the following on it:
Hosta
Impatients
Coleus
Watercress
Tomatoes
Creeping phlox
Creeping Charlie and Jenny
The biggest issue I have had is my fish will eat the roots till they are bare then pull the plant in if they can.

Have fun.