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A good permaculture pond isn’t just a hole full of water — it’s a living system. The right plants clean the water, create habitat, grow food, stabilise edges, and keep nutrients cycling instead of building up into algae problems. When you layer floating plants, marginals, submerged oxygenators and edible crops together, the pond starts doing most of the work for you.
Here are ten of the best pond plants to consider for Australian conditions.
1. Kangkung (Water Spinach) - Ipomoea aquatica
Kangkung is one of the most productive edible aquatics you can grow. It thrives in warm, nutrient-rich water and grows fast through the warmer months. You can harvest it continuously by cutting stems above a node and letting it regrow. At the same time, it pulls nutrients from the water and provides light surface shade. If you want a pond plant that feeds both people and the system, this is hard to beat.
Role: Food production, nutrient uptake, light surface coverage.
2. Water Chestnut - Eleocharis dulcis
Grown for its crisp underground corms, water chestnut suits shallow margins and boggy edges. It helps stabilise soil, filters runoff before it enters deeper water, and produces a valuable edible crop. It’s particularly useful in designed wetland zones or stepped pond edges.
Role: Edible crop, erosion control, filtration.
3. Azolla (Fire Red Azolla) - Azolla filiculoides
Azolla is a floating fern that fixes atmospheric nitrogen through a symbiotic relationship with cyanobacteria. It can double in size quickly under good conditions and forms a living mulch across the water surface. Managed properly, it suppresses algae, shades the water, and produces high-protein biomass that can be composted or fed to poultry. It turns a striking red under stress or cooler weather.
Role: Nitrogen fixation, algae suppression, biomass production.
4. Native Water Lily - Nymphaea gigantea
Australia’s native blue water lily brings more than beauty. The floating pads reduce evaporation, cool the water, and create shelter for fish and aquatic life. The flowers attract pollinators and add seasonal interest. In a balanced system, lilies provide essential canopy cover over deeper zones.
Role: Shade, habitat, temperature regulation.
5. Common Reed - Phragmites australis
Reeds are powerful nutrient extractors and work exceptionally well in dedicated filtration zones or constructed wetland cells. Their dense root systems filter water and provide habitat for insects and small wildlife. They can spread aggressively, so placement and containment matter.
Role: Biofiltration, nutrient stripping, habitat creation.
6. Taro - Colocasia esculenta
Taro thrives with wet feet and produces edible corms and leaves (when properly prepared). Its large leaves create strong visual structure and light shading over pond edges. It’s ideal for tropical and subtropical climates and adds serious biomass to the system.
Role: Staple food crop, edge planting, structural planting.
7. Water Mint - Mentha aquatica
Water mint grows happily in damp soil along pond edges. It spreads easily, stabilises banks, and attracts beneficial insects with its flowers. It’s also useful in the kitchen and releases a fresh scent when brushed.
Role: Groundcover, pollinator support, bank stabilisation.
8. Pickerel Rush - Pontederia cordata
With its upright purple flower spikes, pickerel rush adds vertical structure to marginal zones. It draws nutrients from the water and supports insect life, making it useful in both ornamental and productive ponds.
Role: Filtration, insect habitat, structural diversity.
9. Duck Potato - Sagittaria graminea
Also known as arrowhead, this plant produces edible tubers and grows well in shallow water. It’s a reliable marginal that contributes to food production while stabilising the pond edge and supporting biodiversity.
Role: Edible tubers, habitat, margin resilience.
10. Hornwort - Ceratophyllum demersum
Hornwort is a submerged oxygenator that floats freely or anchors loosely underwater. It improves water clarity, absorbs dissolved nutrients, and provides refuge for fish fry. It’s one of the easiest submerged plants to establish in a new pond.
Role: Oxygenation, nutrient absorption, fish habitat.
Bringing It All Together
The strength of a permaculture pond isn’t in one plant — it’s in the layers. Floating plants like azolla and kangkung cover the surface. Lilies provide deeper shade. Marginals such as taro, pickerel rush, duck potato and water chestnut stabilise the edges. Reeds filter incoming water. Submerged plants like hornwort keep the water clear below the surface.
When these layers work together, the pond becomes increasingly self-regulating: clearer water, fewer algae problems, more habitat, and ongoing yields of food and biomass. That’s when a pond shifts from being decorative to being genuinely productive.
Elephant Foot Yam (commonly Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is a large, starchy tuber crop native to South and Southeast Asia. You’ll find it growing wild in tropical lowland forests, river valleys and disturbed places where the soil is deep and drains freely.
