I have a wildlife pond and stream but the shelf around the edge of the pond is too shallow. Pots for the plants stick up above the water level and most aren’t doing too great at all. And it looks ugly and unnatural seeing the pots.

So I wondered if anyone could recommend plants that I could add that don’t need a pot that I could add amongst the stones around the edge. Ideally native to uk or if not, great for wildlife/pollinators. Location is South Wales.

Worse case scenario is restarting the pond again, to deepen the shelf. But I’m trying to avoid that.
Thank you

Although not able to your question, I think your pond looks really lovely (and I'm not noticing the pots for the plants apart from the edge of one on the LHS which to me looks perfectly fine and providing a nice contextual frame to the pond).

In my small tropical fishtank, the only species of plant that I've been able to keep beyond ~3 weeks has now lasted for 3 years - but only because I keep them in terracotta pots which helps keep them upright. Others may think this looks ugly and unnatural, or may think the nerite-snail eggs covering all the pieces of wood is ugly, but I'm happy with it because the actual amazement and joy of keeping a plant alive for that long vastly outweighs its aesthetics.

I do hope that someone will be able to advise on plants that do better for your pond. If not, though, then perhaps it might be worth looking at the UK Aquatic Plant Society website.