Can I let my plants root in the gravel substrate?

[Mucky_Waters]

I would also like to keep some native crayfish in the shallow end. The koi and goldfish live in the deep end. Anyone have a setup like this?

I have one question,,,, how will you train your crayfish to stay out of the deep end and the koi to stay out of the shallow end?
The reason I ask is because, as you likely already know, freshly molted crayfish make delicious treats for ever hungry koi. :razz:

One thing I've done that helps control the roots of plant that I planted directly in the pond is sew pots out of heavy landscaping fabric. The roots will still eventually break out of the fabric pots, but it does help control them and keep them in a tighter clump much better than just bare rooted, and the fabric hides very well in the pond.
Here's a picture of some irises I planted in fabric pots.