Water Gardening: Pond and Gazebo, 1 by shadowgirl

shadowgirl wrote:
Thank you all for the compliments. Guess I just have no shame when it comes to showing off my garden and fishing for compliments. lol
Kell and Pixi-I think that lotus is white, but it is hard to say the tag faded. My Momo Botan, it's pink, has a bloom on it that I can take a picture tomorrow. There are lotuses that are small enough to grow in a bowl on the table then up to 5' or 6' tall. You can grow lotus in one of the big plastic tubs with the rope handles.Also have a Mrs Perry D Slocum, which is a huge lotus and Grand Slam, a bowl lotus.
Polly-The size is 36' x 28', including the bog. My philosophy is decide how big you want it then double it. lol Originally the bog was going to function as a biological filter but there were a few problems. So I removed the divider and the rocks and made it part of the pond. It works good for starting the tropical waterlilies. That area is 15" deep, and the main pond varies from 20" along the edges and slopes down to 4' with the deepest part just in front of the waterfall about 10' x 12'. I did not put in shelves around the edge, instead the sides go straight down to discourage the critters of the night. My best estimate is that it is around 12,000 gallons.
Pixi-You could do a small half circle deck area right at the edge, maybe even curved to fit along the edge of your pond. On the curved outside side attach lattice so it wraps around with an opening in the middle to enter, then wrap around benches on each side of the opening so that when you sit out with company you can face each other. and finish off with a little modified pergola-type roof. Make some cushions for the benches and some for along the back to lean on, maybe rolled ones for a little lumbar support. With twinkle lights covering it and a couple of mosquito nets draped over it for an ethereal look it would be beautiful, like a little secret grotto. Do you sew? It would not be hard to make a good looking cover, get inexpensive cloth and waterproof it. Make it so it slips over the top and attach the mosquito netting to it. Heck you could just get a big cloth and draped it like a table cloth over the netting. You could even make the the benches kind of low, sort of Moroccan style, with low half circle table in the middle to put your feet up or sit a beverage. It would not take much room and you could plant brugs or hedychium gingers and other fragrant plants around the outside and be surrounded by fragrance that would waft through the lattice. Girl I got a million ideas for this kind of stuff and could go on and on. Sorry I have babbled on enough. lol

And since ya'll insist....this is a couple of lotus and elephant ears. See my hippo floating around. lol