Garden ponds and natural ponds add dimension, reflectivity, and a sense of repose wherever they are built.  Water catches the light and adds a sparkle to the greenery of water loving plants and the color of their flowers.  Its fluidity also adds a unique sense of formlessness that helps relax the mind.
 
We see this in garden ponds especially, where plant colors are both reflected and refracted by the water.  What a color appears as above the water is slightly different than its color in the water.  This adds dimension to the entire garden design.  Even greater dimension, which takes on a sense of the mysterious at night, is created by the shadows that the plants over the water. 

In natural ponds, water loving plants make the pond look true to nature, which is the main reason for investing in a natural form to begin with.  You cannot do this without plants.  We see plants in ponds in every part of the world, including desert areas. 

Adding aquatic plants to any pond will therefore make it look more authentic.  With professional landscaping services, it will also open the door to an entirely new realm of garden design—one that involves working exclusively with four different types of aquatic plants.  

These plant types are oxygenators, marginal plants, floaters, and deep water plants.

Oxygenators are the most important plants in garden design.  With or without fish in your pond, you still need plants like Anacharis, Cabomba, Parrot’s Feather, and Milfoil to keep carbon dioxide levels down.  This prevents algae from taking over the pond and releasing toxins into the water that can make it stagnant, smelly, and poisonous to wildlife and pets.

You also need marginal plants to decorate the water’s edge.  In a garden pond, Exterior Worlds often plants species like Marsh Marigolds, Irises, and Pickerel Reed to connect the water’s edge with the terrestrial elements of garden design.  In natural ponds, such plants also give the pond more visible impact if it is located in a more secluded area in your yard.  

You also need water loving plants known as floaters.  These are plants like Water Hyacinth and Water-Soldiers, whose roots are submerged, and whose leaves and flowers float freely on the surface of the water.  Any pond that is home to fish needs these plants to give the fish shelter from predators that try to pick them off near the surface of the water.

 Finally, there are deep water plants like lily pads.  These have stems that plant roots in the bottom of the pond, and leaves and flowers that grow up to the surface.  Deep water species keep the water temperature cool by absorbing heat and diffusing the light as it passes through the water.  They also provide smaller fish with structure to hide from larger fish.

You need to incorporate all four types of water loving plants into your aquatic water design in order to create a balanced, self-sustaining ecosystem.  Making certain that enough oxygenators are in the water will keep the water clean and allow you to introduce fish and attract many forms of wildlife.