A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 New Pond

Jim and I received a bunch of gift cards for Wal-Mart for wedding gifts. With some we bought an 85 gallon flexible water pond and have just installed it. What do we do next? I want to eventually put fish in our little pond. What kind of plants should I be hunting to go in it to keep the fish healthy? Are ginger lilies a good choice for beside water? Do I need chemicals? Help!

It has interesting watching Angel's reaction around the pond. She loves the water and has already fallen in once. Good thing that I don't let her outside unless she is properly supervised!

Dianna

I WANNA SEE! I WANNA SEE!

G-Mom

I wanna see too!!!!!!

Here are some water plants.

Acorus calamus (Sweet Flag)
Acorus calamus variegata (Variegated Sweet Flag)
Bacopa monniera (Water Purslane)
Canna americanallis variegata (Variegated Water Canna)
Colocasia esculenta (Green Taro)
Colocasia esculenta 'Black Magic' (Black Magic Taro)
Colocasia esculenta (Violet Stemmed Taro)
Colocasia jensii (Black Princess Taro)
Cyperus alternifolius gracillus (Miniature Umbrella Grass)
Elodia canadensis (Anacharis)
Equisetum hyemale (Horsetail)
Iris louisiana 'Dorothy Kay Williams' (Louisiana Iris)
Iris pseudacorus (Yellow Flag Iris)
Iris versicolor (Blue Flag Iris)
Marsilea quadrifolia (Upright Water Clover)
Mentha aquatica (Aquatic Mint)
Menyanthese trifoliata (Bog Bean)
Mimulus ringens (Lavender Monkey flower)
Myriophyllum aquatica (Parrot Feather)
Neptunia aquatica (Sensitive plant)
Nymphoides crenata (Painted Yellow Water Snow Flake)
Nymphoides cristata (Painted White Water Snow Flake)
Nymphoides indica (White Water Snow Flake)
Oenanthe javanica 'Flamingo' (Rainbow Water Parsley)
Orontium aquaticum (Golden Club)
Peltandra virginica (Bog Arum)
Pontederia condata (Pickerel Rush)
Sagittaria montevidensis (Ruby-Eyed Arrowhead)
Saururus cernuus (Lizard Tail)
Scirpus montevidensis (Fiber Optics Rush)
Trapa bicornis (Giant Mosaic plant)

Are you going to do an oasis like G-mom has with a tree to shade it? Or are you going to keep it full sun. If I remember correctly your garden is mostly sun right? Did you do the pump route or are you going a la natural? Tell us more! What shape did you configure it in? Kidney shape, round, square, free form? Are you going to plant right up to the edge or are you going to edge it with stone, gravel, sand, moss, grass? Are you going to try to get Fernies stump and some of its cousins and build up one end kind of like a grotto? What you going to do Dianna I just got to know!!!!!

Thankyou for putting up wiff me.

So far the pond is just in a hole in the ground. No landscaping at all. Jim has to download the camera before I can post pictures of it. I will try to get him to do that this evening when he gets home from work.

Jim bought me a birdbath for the birdies. I have it close to the pond , along with a bird feeder (lantern style). I am going to move both the feeder and the bath. The birds keep getting their breakfast in their bath! I will probably put their accomodations in the front yard, well away from my pond. I don't want them going fishing when I put some fish in it!

Tammy, I really don't know what I am going to do with it. I want it to be purty like Cindy's and G-mom's, but I don't know where to start. The pond is a flexible liner with a little waterfall at the top of it for a "spitting" frog to sit on. It, also, has a fountain in the middle. It looks cute, but I want to decorate! Thanks for the list of flowers. Now I just need to research to find out which ones will do what I want them to do.

I have it out back by the gazebo, though I wanted it in the front yard. Jim said electricity-wise that it would be easier to install in the back. Had to listen to him since I don't know myself. Poor man put a lot of sweat into digging the hole and leveling it for me.

Dianna

Out by the gazebo is exactly where I would have put it so I could look at it while I was sitting in the shade planning my next project. You see I am living vicariously lol.

I know your going to enjoy planning your pond garden so I will be watching this post very closely. Hope Jim will do the camera thing for you so we can have pictures of every step of the process.

I got pictures! Wanna see?







How's that for starters?

Jim is still working hard:



Of course the Boss had to check it out:



She got a little thirsty...



Finished product coming up next.....

Dianna

Drum roll, please....



Tell me now...how do I get the effect I want? I want a calm, cool, peaceful place out beside the gazebo. No one ever answered me...are ginger lilies a good thing beside the pond?

The sun comes up directly behind the pond. It sets directly in front. Yes, Tammy. Our place is full of sun because we had everything bush-hogged except for one little water oak when we moved to the property. We are definitely starting from scratch.

There are 7 sycamores that we planted behind the shed, pond, and gazebo. We live in a triple-wide manufactured home that is slap dab in the middle of 7.96 acres of empty land until we planted something. We have 5 river birches, 6 bald cypress, 5 crepe myrtles, and 5 redbud trees planted so far. We had a line of azaleas and dogwoods down the 300' foot slag drive-way, but they got drowned from the 11" of rain that the land got while we were moving in.

We have put some drainage in now. Future plans include a dry streambed (when it's not raining) and gardens. We don't want a formal look. We want to feel comfortable. Any ideas?

Dianna

Dixie-
That is cool! Sounds and looks like a great spot for a pond.
I guess what you have to have is an idea. Are you wanting paths around or do you want straight forward access? One thing I can tell you is you don't want to put tall plants to close that loose leaves. They make a mess on the bottom of the pond. Do you want an edge of rocks around the pond? I used sedum, lirope and creeping jenny around the edge of my pond aswell as rocks to make it look more natural. It covers up the edge of black and makes it blend in more.
I really don't know. Wish I did but they are to tropical for my zone. LOL If it is what you like then I say go for it. I know you are working on flat land but her is a picture of my bank around my pond. It may give you an idea.
bank around pond

Here is a picture of the edge of my pond. It is to the bottom of the picture.
pond edge and pond

Also do you want a colour scheme or just totally like an english cottage garden?

I hope I have helped and not confused more.

Donna

I love it. Personally I would duplicate Cindy or G-moms areas as closely as I could, cause I think theirs is about as good as it gets.

Have you thought about the skimmer/filter so that if you do get a tree it will help keep the pond clean?

Sorry I don't know anything about Ginger Lilies either.

Ginger lillies should do fine! You could also put cannas on the back side. I have african iris,lantana,brugmansias,dusty miller,a banana tree and various annuals around my pond. I have water lillies in it. You can find the water lillies at a good price at Wallyworld.

I have a "spitting frog" too! The wee ones always ask me "why is the froggie peeing out of his mouth"?

Give Jim a hearty "high-five" from me...he did a great job!

Make sure you have plants big enough to give some shade before you put any fishies in it...I didn't last year and they all died as soon as it got hot

Gardencrazy...
Your pond is the BOMB!
I looked at all your webshots last night and was in awe!
That's how I want mine to look...if I ever get finished with it.

I have no pond tips, because I have no idea what I'm doing! Just thought I'd ask Dianna if she needs any weeping willow trees for all those empty acres she has!

G-Mom is right on with the "shade for the fishies" advice. Unfortunately, I didn't know that, and have to move this big umbrella around all day.


Real attractive...huh?

Cindy Faye

I was thinking that if you did two trees you could hang a one of those things to lay on. Or even better if it was one of those trees that has really wide spreading limbs that start after the tree is taller you could have one of those swing benches. I can't remember what anything is called today. Must be all the cleaning chemicals. Time to get back to the wall I guess.

Cindy ~ see if you, or someone, can go get those water hyacinths that I posted before. They are pretty inexpensive - I got a cluster, which ended up being 6 separate plants with one of those having 2 babies connected for only $4.95 at the very very pricey nursery here. That is all I have for shade in my bathtub pond which gets FULL day's sun from rise to set, and the goldies are doing just fine. They hide under the leaves when they want some relief from the hot hot sun we've been having the last 2 weeks.

That way you won't have to move your very pretty umbrella around all day!

At least it's a "purdy" umbrella...LOL

G-Mom

Donna - The effect I want is something like what all of you have gotten going on. Something purty. I have some liriope, but am not too sure about using that. I don't want snakes hiding in the stuff!

Dianna

Yes, hammock or glider swing one or the other would be great I think. Is your aunt sure it was the willow and not the boggy land that was causing the skeeters? You won't have to worry about that with moving water. And if you have fish you shouldn't have to worry about a bunch of algae either. I think but someone may have to correct me because I am frequently wrong that the skimmer/filter fits near the edge of the pond somehow. No the filter on the pump is to stop stuff from getting stuck in the intake I think.

Hope it turns out wonderful for you.

Hi Dianna ~

The water hyacinths are new plants for me. That said... I was in the nursery yesterday where I bought the plants a few weeks ago, and all of their water hyacinths were in bloom already. Granted, they are inside a greenhouse which is hot as heck. I only hope that mine will bloom - can't say if they have a scent or not, but the blooms are very pretty.

Here is a picture of my pond this week. The plants surrounding it need to fill out, as well as the ones in the pond which I'm told will cover the surface very quickly - so far they aren't growing much at all.



Here is a close-up of my water hyacinths that I posted earlier:


I'm liking the look of the yellow/green variegated grasses by the pond. So far, I have the yucca, some sweet flag grass, and 2 grasses that I picked up about a month ago - looks like liriope, but I think the tag says something else - I'll have to look for it and check it. They all have the yellow/green coloration, so I added some yellow annual gazanias, and some orange to go with my goldfish colors.

Unfortunately, any of the water plants that I use in my pond will be annuals here in zone 6, so I'm not looking to put a lot of money into those plants. I do try to plant mostly perennials around the pond, but just had to add the gazanias because they are so very bright and cheerful. And a good contrast to the blue garden which is just on the other side of the small walk by the pond garden.

Keep up the great work, and keep posting pictures of your progress!

Tammy, I need a filter/skimmer, too? I thought all I needed was what came with the pond. Oh, well. Local Wally will be happy to part me from more of our money.

That's a pretty pond, Lynne! Is it made from a bathtub? I have a bathtub next to the woods that was just thrown on the property before we moved here. If yours was made from a bathtub, I might just have another pond in the works soon! (insert doing a happy dance gremlin here!) I hope Jim will be just as excited about digging another hole for me.

Are those pretty spiky variagated mounds the yucca plants? Those are really pretty. You have really landscaped your pond beautifully. I only hope that mine will be as pretty as all of y'all's when I get through.

Another question for all of you...do you have to put all this plants in pots or on ledges or something? Do they just float in the ponds? I am planning on buying some plants this week-end and, hopefully, will be decorating the pond area on Sunday.

Dianna

Don't need the skimmer/filter if your not going to do a tree. Some water plants are floaters, some need so much depth before they will do well. And some stay submerged and provide food for the fishies.

Any idea as to when I could put some fishies in? I want to see if Angel will try to fish. She loves that pond!

Dianna

yep - bathtub from our kids' bathroom - about 25 years old. At first we weren't going to do a liner, but it was a light green, and showed all the damage marks on it, so we went ahead and put in a black liner. Just be sure, if you do submerge a tub, that you fill it right away, or it will rise out of the ground with the first heavy rainfall - we learned the hard way! :p My husband had to lift the pond out and re-dig the hole before he could set the tub in again!

The yucca is at the bottom of the picture.
The 2 variegated on the right side of the tub are the new ones. I will go down to the garage in a few minutes and look for the tags.

The water hyacinths are floaters. I have a dwarf canna in a pot in there. Here's a secret I learned online - instead of buying a plant basket, or rocks to keep the soil in the pots, wrap it in pantyhose!!! That's what I did (I used a pair that had a run in one of the legs - cut it just below the panty part and tied the legs up there) and no one can tell what it is! You can kinda see it in this picture:




I'd love to have some water lilies, but the only place that sells them around here gets $75 for the cheapest ones they have!!! :rolleyes: That's waaaaaaaaaay too much mulah for something that won't overwinter here!

Ok - just checked the tag - it is a liriope -

Liriope muscari 'Variegata' or variegated lilyturf

six weeks after you plant your plants I think I read somewhere. For the Fish that is lol. Forgot the subject in that sentence. I'm losing it. lol.

I know that is what they recommend, but I only waited about 2 weeks, and my 3 goldies seem to be doing fine. They are so glad to be outta the 5 gallon indoor tank that they shared with 3 others!