ornamental bush pond zone 2a

Hello Aranya,

I have 10.8 acres in zone 2a, northeastern ontario, and on one of the nature trails we are going to put in a small ornamental pond. Currently it is scrub and young, ~8 year old, poplar regrowth with a fair bit of Balsam fir thrown in. What would be a good succession around the pond, roughly a 6' diameter depression slightly oval, for aesthetics, shade and to attract birds. Serviceberry is one of the shrubs going in but just wondering what else would be useful. Thinking of leeks on the forest floor to.

Max Kennedy

Hi max, no expert advice here but i thought i would post as a fellow zone 2 dweller, there don't seem to be that many of us on here. I'm on the other side of the country. Are you on canadian shield in the boreal?

I would be thinking of starting some willow from cuttings off local native stock...easy to get done. How about some red osier? (pretty with habitat value). You could probably transplant some native cat tail and bullrush on the margins, and maybe some sedges. I don't know the plants you have locally, but I'd start poking around wetlands to see what's there.

Do you have Labrador tea? Can be a spice or tea in moderation.
How about a skunk cabbage? I guess you don't have the western and the eastern isn't as colorful, but might be fun.

The pond is a hollow in the rock where they did some drilling for mining exploration it is pretty small. My concern is having to carry water to top it up during dry spells so I don't want something absolutely dependent on lots of water which bulrushes might be, not sure on that. The red osier is a good one and as a shade tree, which is what I figure the willow was for, I'll probably go with a paper birch or Silver maple since our local willows are notoriously weak and tend to split/fall in a wind especially in shallow soil (granite is less than 6 inches down). Sedges are a good idea. You got my geography pretty much right on.

..right, i was picturing something muckier... we have some small shrubby willows which establish quickly, not so much shade trees.. paper birch sounds lovely

the rock and seasonal water makes me think stonecrops or some sort of sedum, but i don't know what you have out there... where there is soil you might have local understory plants in genus Maianthemum which are quite ornamental?

twinflower and bearberry?? I guess all this stuff would be for a more mature forest...

sounds fun, enjoy...