Planting pond marginal shelves:
We have taken into account the depth of the basket we send each plant in to calculate how deep the plant will be in the water when placed on a particular depth shelf.
| Symbol | Shelf depth in cm | Shelf depth in inches |
 |
wet mud | wet mud |
 |
13 -15 | 5 - 6 |
 |
15 -22 | 6 - 9 |
 |
23 - 44 | 10 - 17 |
 |
45 + | 18 + |
- Build your pond and create the right depth shelves into your construction
- Build a shelf at 5-6" 13-15cm)
- Another shelf at 6-9" (15-22cm)
- Possibly a shelf at 10-17" (23-44cm)
- And a base of 2'6"(75cm).
- Most shelf area should be shelf 0 and shelf 1.
- 2/3rds of a wildlife pond should be shelved with 1/3rd of the area being at the base level.
- Fish ponds could have a larger and deeper base area - 1/2 deep water and 1/2 shelves.
- We recommend a minimum of 3 x 1 litre marginal aquatic baskets per metre length on a shelf, with more if the shelf is wider than 30cm(12") or if a full look is required quickly.
Water depth is vital to marginal pond plants:
- Too deep and some varieties will not thrive,
- Too shallow and some varieties will not receive the frost/ice protection over their crowns.
- Some plants can cope with a wide variety of shelf depths.
If you have dug the shelf too deep for a particular plant species:
- replant into a taller basket so that the top of the basket is at the correct depth or
- raise it by using blue engineering bricks or another basket filled part way up with gravel.
Wet mud : Plants with their crowns at ground level but roots in wet mud:
- Plants that grow in wet mud in a sloping beach area of a pond, in a muddy bog garden alongside or on a wet, muddy stream edge
Shelf 
: Plants that sit with their crowns at/near water level:
- Plants that are placed with their roots/baskets in water but with a little or no water over their crowns.
- Shelf pond plants can be divided into 2 types -
- horizontal spreaders across the water - rafting plants
- vertically up and out of the water - emergent plants
- Your pond should contain a mix of both to create different wildlife habitats.
- Container pond planting collections are mostly shelf 0 plants as the plant support grid sits in position with approximately 2cm(1") of water over the top of an 11cm basket.
- A pond with no shelves in its construction - use floating planting islands that float the crown of the plants on/near the water surface using plants listed .
Shelf 
: Plants that want more water over the top of the basket:
- Plants that are placed with up to 13cm(5") of water over the top of the basket.
Shelf 
: Plants for a deeper shelf:
- Robust plants that enjoy a deeper shelf that places the crown of the plant in water without risk of ice penetrating the pond to that depth.
The miniature and dwarf waterlilies can be placed onto a pond shelf or at the base of our patio container pond at shelf or a shallow shelf depth.
