Should I Put my Pond in the Sun or the Shade?

Yes! Like most things in life, this is a package deal. Both sun and shade have their advantages. If properly designed and built, you can put a pond ANYWHERE and have a lush, gorgeous ecosystem.

What if I put my Pond in the SUn?

If you put your pond in the sun, you will have lots of great color from blooms! Your water lilies will thrive and smile at you in the form of flowers. There are a lot of great sun-loving aquatic plants that will fill your pond with color given enough sunshine. 

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The downside to putting your pond in the sun is that algae also loves sunshine. So, during the time of year when the aquatic plants are not growing aggressively, you may experience more algae in the pond. Algae is simply the weed in the garden. It has it's purposes, though, but that's another blog.
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A few design considerations for ponds in full sun:

• 24/7/365 filtration & circulation to keep the water well-aerated and cool
• Using aquatic plants that won't burn in full sun and provide shade for the fish
• Fish caves built into the walls to provide protection from flying predators that can easily see the pond from above because there's no cover and swoop in for a meal
• NOT building just a black hole with water in it (such as a black plastic bucket or a black liner without rock covering it), which creates a parabolic dish

What if I put my Pond in the Shade?

If you put your pond in the shade, you will greatly decrease the potential for algae, as well as provide overhead cover against flying predators that would see the pond as a meal source.

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The downside to putting your pond in the shade is that you will have fewer colorful blooms on your water lilies and other aquatic plants.
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A few design considerations for putting a pond in the shade:

• Using aquatic plants that require less sunshine to thrive
• 24/7/365 filtration & circulation system that keeps the tree debris from saturating and falling to the bottom of the pond
• Knowing that you may need to hose bird poo off the rocks around the pond because they'll almost certainly hand out and roost in the overhead tree
• Knowing that tree roots may eventually invade the pond

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OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT ENJOY:
GREAT WATER FEATURE IDEAS
BACKYARD LANDSCAPE IDEAS WITH PONDS
PET-FRIENDLY PONDS​