You're right about the heron. I mostly watch him from the house. He is sort of getting used to me sitting on the back deck but if i step into the yard he's off. The geese only mind if I start fiddling close around the fen. Although we get several visitors throughout the year, there are really only two (a pair) who stay and nest, and of course once they nest, no one else had better even think of landing in that water! The geese don't like the heron and will chase them off if they have babies. I think the feeling is mutual. However, I have noticed that no one minds the ducks. We get wood ducks, which are gorgeous birds, and they will hang with the geese or the heron and neither seems to mind.

I did consider putting lotus in the fen but my research showed what you said. They will take over completely, so , no lotus. I do like your idea of a dedicated area for them. You can eat those by the way. Not much flavor, but very pretty in a dish. In Japan, lotus was a very common vegetable.

I do want to plant some waterlilies, but they can naturalize and I'd be ok with that. The pond in front is too deep to plant lilies. it's mostly for fish and plantings around it. I like the hoop idea. I wonder how i would suspend the plants in the hoop? That actually might be cool with waterlilies suspended in a ring, or even a cage type thing to keep the fish from eating the roots. I'll have to think about that. Might be neat.

Actually, we are getting a canoe this weekend. Occasionally we have to rescue lawn furniture from the pond, or get out there for some other reason. And since the boy doesn't live at home anymore... Generally if something goes into the pond it's gone! The pond is so deep there could be a car under there for all we know! The place was built, including the pond, by a funeral director, so of course, lots of jokes about why our fish are so big..! Although we have never done it, I know there are depth finders now days that can give a fairly good picture of what's down there. That might be fun. Lots of lawn chairs, stray fishing rods, and golf balls I imagine!

My husband wants to expand the fen in the back. It's a natural body of water but to expand it wouldn't be too difficult from our research. But then, like I said, we have heavy clay soil, so basically some heavy equipment and planning would do it. You have to plan for runoff, into and out of the pond. Depending on how deep the pond is, the natural resources guy said it can take a few years for a pond from runoff to fill and maintain. If you have sandy soil, I would think you would need a clay liner of some sort.