duck friendly planting?

[TLWR]

Ok - I had DH get on the tractor and find me some dirt from the back yard last night. I planted some hostas today along the side and then put down weed fabric and pine straw and then stole the purple cone flowers from the front entry that I didn't plant yet and sat them out there and when the ducks didn't seem interested in eating them, just playing in their dirt, I planted those too. I also gave them a little ducky sidewalk to their little ducky stairs lol

Then ran out of plants. What else can I plant that is duck friendly?
The entirely empty side by the stairs gets a bit of sun in the morning and then basically shade for the rest of the day. The back corner is sand for the dogs (well, the girls anyway, T doesn't hang out by the pond, the girls love laying in the sand there though if we are out there).
The end with the 2 cone flowers (and a yellow day lily) is sun for the vast majority of the day.
The hosta side - the back portion is mostly shade - the hostas have been in their pots there since I finished the pond a few months ago - but in front of where I stopped with them gets more sun than shade.
What else can I plant that is duck friendly to finish the planting there? I don't want something that will get too huge too quick as we'd like to be able to see the pond from the house and see into the pond from the chairs out there when we are sitting out with the ducklets.

some craptastic pics taken a few mins ago - rainy and getting dark - but you get the idea.

 

[Amiga]

By duck friendly, do you mean something non-toxic, but that they don't eat to the ground?

We have violets (which they nibble on a little bit), day lilies, lemon balm, currants, and a number of other plants. I find that the areas where we take our walks and don't spend many hours a day have plenty of vegetation. It's just in their most secure area that not much grows. Though the grape does well with them - most of its biomass is either in the roots, or up above the ducks' heads. They nibble the leaves they can reach, and that's good for them and I like the help with pruning the grapes.

 

[TLWR]

Yep, stuff they won't make disappear. And not toxic to them if they decide to give them a try... and decide to not like them lol

They ate all the floating water plants that I had tucked away in the filter. They have a few weeds around that they seem to really like the taste of, but don't bother the lilies and roses in the bed next to the pond. But I don't want another area full of day lilies.
I'd like some flowers and/or some nice greens/textures, but don't need to entirely fill the area in. Perennials would be preferred over annuals, but could do some annuals for color if I needed to.

 

[Amiga]

Have you looked at meadowsweet (Spirea latifolia)?

They haven't bothered that in the forest garden. It grows about 30" high, has nice small leaves and flower heads that look nice.

Hazelnut bushes, too - they trim the lower leaves but the hazels don't mind - those grow more like five or six feet high, but they are nice and open, and have the advantage of producing nuts when they're mature. I'm talking native hazelnuts, Corylus americana or Corylus cornuta. The filbert and filbert crosses get much bigger.

Low bush blueberries are cute. They're about a foot high.

Lingonberries are nice, too - just under a foot high, and they're evergreen.

 

[TLWR]

I picked up a coriopsis and a caladium this week. Sitting on the patio now. Safe for ducks in the not toxic sense?
If so, I'll move them next to the pond to see if the plants are safe from the ducks and plant them, or not.

 

[Amiga]

I am not sure about either of those as far as toxicity goes.

 

[TLWR]

coreopsis appears to be not toxic to dogs, cats and fish
caladium appears to be toxic to dogs and cats

So I'll put the coreopsis out by the pond and see if they try to eat it. If not, i'll plant it.
And I'll find another duck free location for the caladium.

 

[bayyjayy]

Love your duck oasis.....I bet it is so nice to sit out there. Especially on rainy days like the one you are having....gorgeous!