Hi
This is a tough question . First, most water plants require a lot of sun. Second deciduous trees drop the leaves, flowering trees drop the spent flowers even palms drop seeds lol Will be interested to hear the suggetions .
i would suggest ,skip the trees and concentrate on shrubs.?? gary

Thanks Gary, Waterbug. Right now we have some windmill palms, and they make some fruiting body, but easy to cut off and dispose of, and the fans don't fall off, which is nice. I know other palms can make messes (don't get me started on my Canary Island Date Palm, you've never seen so much debris...). We're going to go have a look around the palm nursery nearby.

We were also thinking tree ferns, but they are slow growers, and can cause allergic reactions in some people, I have heard. We have Oleander up front of the house, and that is a possibility. They don't seem to be messy or fussy.

DW wanted a Brugmansia a while back- I will look at that. Is it messy? I'm ok with occasional mess, but not constant mess. We were thinking some Japanese Maples as accent 'shrubs', since they are basically just an autumn mess.

Privet is a dirty word around my wife. We bought this place and there were Privets everywhere, or so we thought. We thinned them out, and started irrigating for other plants. Did you know a mature Privet tree can make ten million berries a year? We didn't. Until the next spring. Then there were Privets everywhere! Weeks on hands and knees removing them from the lawn. The big Privets met the Husqy and went to the great chipper in the sky. Replaced with a ginkgo and ornamental purple plum.

We were also considering adding a Hollywood juniper nearby. Anyone have experience with those? They look cool, and not too messy, but I've never actually had one, so any direct experience would be nice to hear.

I recently planted a $20 Lowe's Japanese Red Maple next to my 50-55,000 gallon pond out back. It is doing great with lots of beautiful new growth. I had an extra feed bucket with a clip and I just keep it clipped to the fence and use it to dip pondwater out for the trees. I have also been trying to plant bald cypress out there, but inside the actual water line (or just on the edge of the flood area) to help dry things out when we get too much precip. I have a couple large Sago palms on a big burm, and they behave rather well. Because they are tipped toward the pond on the edge of a steep burm, nothing messes with their toxic seeds- they just can't get to them.

My pond was originally to help dry out my paddocks, and has since become a little oasis of sorts.

On MY list of things to plant around it are more cypress, a few crape myrtles for a little summer color, another red maple, and a weeping willow out on the island. That is likely to get messy, but ponds in the wild deal with leaves, and so must mine. I have also purchased some kind of drought resistant cold hardy needle type palm for placement on a burm.

Not that this has helped, but I did participate :). I sure wish this board would get cranked up and have lots of traffic and responses.

Cheers
M

Gilroy,
i have a hollywood juniper, but it's not right next to my little pond.
They grow very slow, need very little care, keep their beautiful dark green color and grow awesome! It is 4 years old and is now starting with new growth with new "arms".

I LOVE Hollywood junipers and wish I had room for one. They are not very common here in the Pacific Northwest.

I do have a Chamaecyparis obtusa next to my pond that looks sort of similar. It doesn't drop anything into the pond.

I have two Japanese maples near my pond and they do drop leaves and seeds but I deal with them. I wish I didn't have to deal with the neighbor's mature fir trees. They drop needles, catkins, cones and branches.

Hi M from Houston! Fellow Texan here, transplanted to the left coast. We got one of the little red 'bloodgood' Japanese maples, and it's been a trooper through our hot days (100F) already, and we've only had it for a few months. Highly recommended. Sounds like you have quite a spread there, so color me envious, it sounds really nice. Most we could get here was a third acre, but that's pretty good for the SF bay area. I had a weeping willow and they drop leaves like crazy, but it sounds like you have a big enough pond to take it, if you have an island. Sounds lovely.

Hi Butterfly, thanks for the first hand info on the Hollywood. They look so cool, and I think you just convinced us to get one. We're off to the tree nursery tomorrow to see what they have. Thanks again. : )

Buyorsell, I looked up your juniper on giggle, and it's very close actually, to the Hollywood, if the pictures are to be believed. Looks like a winner for us, and I appreciate he info. I think the maples will be manageable since they more or less make one mess a year. The fir trees sound like a pain. My condolences. ; )

Hello Transplanted Texan! We have been having some dreadfully hot days here as well. Somehow, my little maple is thriving in the heat and full sun. It has been raining off and on for two days, the first real rain it has known since I planted it.

Here at the homeplace we are just over three acres - mostly under livestock use for our horses and some cattle to cut. I have two earthen ponds here which are really to capture rainwater. We have a farm halfway between Houston and Dallas, and that is where the good catfish and perch are. Lots of lillies which were planted ten years ago. The pond at the farm is spring fed, and overflows to a creek year round. It also remains a constant temperature all year and never has frozen. I need to upload a pic. I wish my ponds here at home could be as neat, but nature takes care of the farm pond and she is much more knowledgeable than I.

I'm just here to hope that some knowledge drips off of you guys and happens to fall on my head....

Cheers!
M