Pond planting suggestions

I live in the Comox Valley and would like to dig a pond, about 5 m in diameter. The exposure is southwest and is in full sun. I'm concerned about evaporation, and would like advice on trees/shrubs that would provide shade and are fast growers. Possibly willow, possibly Portuguese Laurel?
Pond plants will help, and lots are planned, but evaporation is still a worry! Any advice is greatly appreciated.
John

 

If you are far enough east it will be too cold for Portugal laurel. Also it is not fast growing. Whereas willows are of course a natural for waterside planting. And fast growing - just don't shade the water so much that a lot of kinds of pond plants will find the sun exposure inadequate. With one of the benefits of being able to grow in open water being that it is not shaded by trees.

 

Portuguese Laurel should be fine in the Comox Valley with Comox itself rated Zone 9a.

The thing I worry about with trees and shrubs near ponds is that their leaves can create a lot of extra work when they fall in the water - and especially when they sink to the bottom.

 

If Comox is in an area where Portugal laurel is winter hardy in addition to the comparatively leisurely growth rate it seeds out into undeveloped wooded land in communities here in the Puget Sound area. As does English laurel and so on through the list of local nuisance trees and shrubs with with ongoing histories of local cultivation, despite having demonstrated such proclivities - a slow dense, broad-growing blob of a tree that casts dark shadows and pops up from seed is probably the antithesis of what is desired for the situation.

By the way references to climate zones should always come with indications of which system is involved. For instance in this case I don't know if the Canadian or the USDA hardiness zones were mentioned, so that the significance was lost on me. And if Comox is thought to be in USDA 9 then that is California mild. As in date palms etc.