Putting a pond in a good location

by Bette Dell
(Mays Landing NJ)

I am thinking about putting a pond in my backyard and i need to know if it the location should be sunny, shady, or doesn't matter. I live in South Jersey zone 7.

Doug says - if you want to grow water lilies, then you really need full hot sun. That's the bottom line there as they don't grow in shade.

If you only want fish - then you can put it in shade with no problem but you'll have to install all kinds of filtering systems to keep the water clear as the plants won't do the trick (most water garden plants want full sun to thrive - even the oxygenators)

Bottom line. From a design point of view, you can put it anywhere. From a plant functioning and growing point of view, you had better put it in the full sun.

Hope that helps.