My Brother and his wife made it in to visit and we spent the afternoon in town looking for plants for my pond. One place had a few marginals but nothing to get excited about. Another had unnamed water lilies for ONLY 25.99 ea. and nothing else. Another said they MIGHT get some in yet by the end of the month but they weren't certain. No floaters of any kind to be seen unless I want to buy them here locally where the water is putrid and the only thing that looks healthy is the string algae :~{
So I thought I would try ordering them online but so far I have not found any. I will keep going through the sites in the Watchdog but so far no luck finding floaters. Very frustrating!!!
disappointing day
I sent you an e-mail for an option
Thanks Sue. I have been checking out the EBAY links and one in particular looks like it might help with a couple of things. And I followed up on that other "lead" too ;~)
you are very welcome. I just hope that other lead isn't mad at me but I don't think so :)
So far the Ebay has failed me. I found one that had a little of what I need but they want 3 times the price of the plant for shipping fees!
In the meantime I went out this morning to admire my little babies in the pond and was delighted to see several dragon flies flitting and skipping over the water. And my SIL left for my parents home telling my Brother that when they get home they WILL be getting a pond :~) They have a large yard but he had been telling her that a pond would not fit and seeing one in my tiny space sure killed that argument!
just keep looking zany, sometimes Ebay can be like that but then you find that perfect one for the perfect price :)
look for water plant, aquatic plant, pond plant..........etc
What plants exactly are you looking for?????
this site says that they only charge for their cost of shipping...........you can send them an e-mail with questions..... http://www.pondgirl.com/HOME.htm
this one doesn't sound too bad
http://www.ewaterlily.com/
just trying to help out :)
here's one that has a $8 flat rate shipping and a special right now for 3 hardy lilies for $33........lots of other stuff though. Not sure if that's a good price because I don't buy water plants ;)
http://www.lilyblooms.com/product.php?bigcat=1&cat=2
Because it is my first pond I only have the three plants in it so far that were sent by an Angel here. I have a white water lily, a varigated iris/grass? , and pikerill weed. I did find a couple small bundles of parrots feathers at the fish store and put them in but when I looked for them this morning they had vanished. Do the fish eat it or could it be hiding from me?
So needless to say I need almost anything to get some coverage and interest out there. I just read your post about your losing your parrots feather this year :~( Wish I had an Artic suit to send you!
My mom had some parrots feather in her pond at one time but the fish ate hers. She closed her pond down though because she just couldn't do the work anymore :(
usually parots feather takes over your pond......don't think the fish can eat it fast enough.....
my mom, like Zany, only had a little bit of it and it didn't get a chance to take over because the fish ate it in like 3 days...........LOL
Hmmm, 10 feeder fish and 3 little bundles of green....10 fat little feeder fish and now no little bundles of green...I think if I do the math I might be able to figure out where the little bundles of green are off too! I think some of those lil feeder fish are gonna find themselves in a wee little glass pond until the plants can establish themselves!
lol
Yep, grabbing the net and putting thise overweight fishies on the 'No parrot plant diet' for awhile!
Well, things are http://www.ewaterlily.com/ looking better! Sledder pointed me to this and I ordered a dwarf papyrus, water hyacinth. Azolla and duckweed. So hopefully I can start getting things going!
I was just glad to help. :) Your fish are gonna love you!! The azola and duckweed are like candy to them.
So what were you saying about your fat little feeder fish? **giggle**
Keep talkin Zany, I'm learnin!
LOL violabird, It is said that it is a sign of intelligence to learn from the mistakes of others so if you keep following me and my mistakes and learn from them you will have plenty of oportunities to learn and prove your intelligence!
I went out before leaving for work and noticed something odd on the bottom of the pond. Closer inspection showed it to be a bundle of parrots feathers that was almost brown from the sedimentat the bottom. Lesson number two for today...do not add small bundles of parrots feathers to the pond until the initial water clears! I rinsed it off and found it had actually started rooting and sent out a new branch! So those fat little fishies (lesson 1 ) may have eaten 2 bundles but the third is alive and well :~) I put all but 2 of the fish into a large fishbowl until the pond is a bit better established. I will have to learn the fish to plants ratio by trial and error but hope to strike a sustainable level eventually.
it usually floats, wonder why it didn't?
Is is supposed to float? I bought it at an aquarium shop and it comes in weighted bundles so that they sink and then grow to the surface or it can be anchored to the bottom with gravel according to the guy at the store. It is supposed to grow fast and he said I would probably need to thin it out in a season or two so I figured once it is growing well the fishies can eat all they want and control it somewhat. At least that is my theory....which may be wayyyy off base!
You can also pinch the tips off and they will grow new roots. :) Hey, I was at Home Depot today and they had water lilies for $10. Do you have HD there?
Zany, your parrot's feather would have survived even if it had stayed on the bottom in the muck! But it's best to unbundle it and let it float free. No reason to make it struggle for long enough to grow to the surface.
Did you know you can put canna and elephant ears directly into the pond, or set them in after you plant them in pots and put some gravel or marbles or shells on the soil to keep it in place? Those large leaves will give you shade in a short time, while you wait for the smaller things to fill in. Some forms of philodendron do well as pond plants if you have enough shade so they won't burn. Of course, you must take them out for winter. Even some reeds and grasses will work, and they make a nice contrast in shape. There are numerous types of horsetail and cattail plants to use, too. By using some less common things, you can get a unique look and often save mega bucks because you can find starts in the roadside ditches.
I'm learnin, I'm learnin!
Ya'll are the BEST!
I wish we had a Home Depot here but no such luck!
I left the one bundle weighted to the bottom since it is already branching out and reaching for the surface after only a week! And plant to go back and buy more this week when their shipment comes in.
Aimee, I do have a couple canna's that have managed to survive in small pots during all out moving about. They are pretty stressed out though and I just planted them into larger pots. I will add them to the pond when they regain a little vigor.
I lost my EE's that Jim sent me in the first move:~( and haven't had a chance to replace then yet. But I just read that the spiderwort can be a shallow pond plant and I do have some I can try.
Not sure I want Horsetails in there since the stuff is driving me crazy as a weed in the flowerbeds. I would like to add some dwarf cattails but have to watch the budget for awhile so it will have to wait.
Zany,
Can you cancel the order for the dwarf Papryus and order something else? I have several plantlets that grow very fast, that I would love to share with you and also lots of "established" parrots feather.
Let me know and I will send it up ASAP.
Donna
Sure! They won't ship til Monday so I should be able to change the order! Do you want me to send postage now or wait to see how much it costs first?
I'll bet it wasn't parrots feather that dissappered,bet it was anacharis,fish gobble that stuff up!
Zany...you've got mail.
Donna
:~) Thanks SoCal!
Zany,
I just bought two Spiderwort plants, a purple one and a white one. I re-potted them, and placed them on the upper level shelves in my pond, and they are doing great! I got a great deal on them also. I went to a local greenhouse, and they had all their 4 1/2 inch potted perennials on sale for $3.99 each. The spiderwort was very mature and ready to bloom. I bought it yesterday, and this morning the blooms are opening up. No sign of overwatering! If you have any spiderwort, definitely use it in your pond, but make sure you place it on a high level shelf, one that's about 6-8" down from the top of the water. I don't have a spectacular pond, only used the 90 gal. pond kit from Wal Mart, but I think that's all I needed for the area where I placed it.
Here's a close-up of one of the spiderworts.
And, here's the other.
Thanks for the feed back on using the spiderwort. I have a larger one I can divide and will put halg in the pond and half just outside the pond so that it looks like it grew into/out of the water! Your pond kit looks like it is exactly like the one I bought. Small yes, but perfect for my wee little yard.