I understand completely!!! I'm the same way!!!
Show Us Your Water Gardens ....Big Or Small We Love Them All
Very beautiful pond, backspace! What does it look like in the cold? Even here in Arizona, the cold takes it's toll... we've had several below freezing nights, even covering the plants hasn't protected them all. Perhaps I'll take some AZ winter shots, but it's sad to compare it with a month or so ago. But nevermind, it will all come back. (or be replaced...)
Fish are happy, although mostly sitting on the bottom. They still come up and say hello when we go see them, and my pond water is still 58 degrees, so they are getting a little bit of food.
Brenda
Picture perfect backspace. Your landscaping is beautiful and you have a superior looking Lotus for great contrast to all the other colors and shades of green. Well Done☺
Glad you are posting here with us now☺
Backspace,
Lovely pond - missing mine.
What is the purple that is growing closest to us in the first picture? Looks almost like creeping phlox to me. I am always looking for something new and interesting to plant around my pond.
Thanks,
Carolyn
bsavage - I will have to take some pics. of winter with the pond. I am sure that I have a few but have locate them. I sure envy you with your weather. I haven't seen my fish in a few months. We have had a mild winter, but now the snow and cold is upon us.
All my plants are planted in the liner under rock. Every year they die back in my zone (boy do I envy you). I had it with the pots on my shelf liner and it was not as natural as I would of liked, so I planted everything a few years ago under rock. They all seem to do well. I did have a lotus given to me from a very dear friend and it was in a pot and liked it so much where it was at that it shot out runners everywhere and was rooting in the liner so , sad to say I took it out along with all the runners because I was told that those runners would puncture my liner. Hated to do it but did not want to be sorry. That's o.k. cuz I have tons of plants and lilies.
I saw your pond adventure being done on another forum and have to say it is absolutely beautiful. Would love to see more pics.
Hey Everyone, Rich here from flkoifarm under the new name.
I must say that EVERYONE has nice ponds! Both big and small. They're sweet! Hopefully some of you will want to add a few more koi to the herd in spring! :-)
Rich
Laser Koi
Laserkoi@yahoo.com
Thanks Carolyn , missing mine too! The purple plant that you see is "thymus coccineus" , in other words thyme which is so carefree and zoned for us here. I shear it back after it has bloomed in late May to early June and it will put on another show , not as prolific as the first but needless to say looks very nice. It tends to soften the rocks that are around the pond. It Was one of the first plants I planted around the pond. Hard working plant that just keeps coming back. Needs good drainage. It actually is planted in a scree type base rock also in my walkways. Likes it dry and full sun. I would think it should work in your zone too. Right conditions it goes nuts and is carefree and puts on quite a show. Hope this helps.
posyblossom- Thank you for the compliment and welcome. I am kinda new to this site. I have been a member for a while but have been off for a long time due to the recent and sudden death of my precious father. Thank you again for welcoming me . Still trying to find my way around.
Backspace, so sorry to hear of the loss of your Father. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Brenda
I am sending you sympathy and empathy backspace. I had a wonderful and precious father too that we lost to cancer a few years ago. When they are so special, they take a big part of us with them when they go,but once the painful grief is over, how much dearer are the lifetime of happy memories, the Legacy they leave behind. So for me, my Dad is still with me in spirit and I hope this is or will be true for you too☺
Backspace I am so sorry for the loss of your Dad!!! There is no age that we are prepared for that. I thank God for the time he did give me with my Dad and like posyblossom said I cherish the memories. My own Dad died in 84 but there are still times that I'm overwhelmed with grief even still!!!!
((((HUGS))))
Jeri
Many thanks to you both. Time heals and it is a process I am told and a long process at that. I just take one day at a time. I planted 300 plus bulbs in one of my back yard gardens as a memorial garden to him. Red and white tulips, red was his favorite color. Can't wait to see what it all looks like in spring.
Sandy
Thanks Jeri for your support. I really appreciate it. I am overwhelmed as to how many people have shown concern, and their support in my situation. It is nice to connect with people who have gone through this and hear what they have to say and learn how they have dealt with it. Thanks again to you and all.
Sandy
I never would have thought that I would have made so many good friends from this forum but they are all truly ANGELS when you need them.
Some of my friends that have also experienced losses find plants with the same name as the person they loss and plant a memorial bed with the named plants. If you would like to do this just let us know your Dad's name and we will try to help you find those plants.
Know that you are in our prayers and if we can help just let us know!!!
Jeri
All of you are very, very sweet. I have thought of trying to find plants with his name,but that maybe a hard one as his name is Sammy or Sam. I don't know off hand of any plant with that name. If you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
Sandy
I'll check around for you!!! I'll let you know!!!
Jeri
Here is a good start for you to look through. Hope this helps!!!
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=t&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADBR_enUS253US253&q=Plants+named+Sam%3f
Jeri
Thanks so much jeri, I will take some time to go through all.
Sandy
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Here is an update of my pond on Jan. 11th,2008,after all the ice and snow melted.
Here is my lil' pond. I have 12 fish, goldfish and chubunkins. We hauled 7 pickup truckloads of rocks to make this. My hubby dug it in one day, lol!! We went dumpster diving at the local carpet place and used remnants to put down under the black liner for padding. Added a pump and that was it! I love to sit on the stone bench and feed the fish.
Another view of my water garden
It's a beauty guspuppy☺
Lovely spot to sit by! How nice, indeed! :-)
Gus,
it's gorgeous! Perfect for just sitting on a sunny day!
Carolyn
I agree... very pretty!
Great job! I bet you can't wait for summer to return!
I'm looking for some water gardens to show to landscape architecture students in Los Angeles. The size is not as important as the number of different plant species and being allowed to bring a group of students in for a viewing. Any ideas?
You may wish to check your yellow pages under pond/water garden contractors. They may be able to arrange tours of their previous works.
Also check out Aquascapes web site..perhaps one of their contractors could help.
http://www.certifiedaquascapecontractor.com/contractors/california.php
You guys have some great water features!
We put in a pondless system a couple years ago, and I've been slow to landscape (so many other projects!). This is a view from the bottom up. If you look under my neighbor's in-progress stairs, that's the waterfall. This picture was taken in mid June.
This is a shot of the pondless pond, taken same time as above. I planted a lot of things directly into the rocks removing all soil, including some iris that weren't doing well. As of today, everything is doing well, so I guess my plan is working :)
This is the waterfall in late April. If I were to take this shot now, you'd see a bunch of plants and not the waterfall :)
This is probably before I "rearranged" things. A very large pine fell in January into my yard. Luckily the trunk JUST missed the waterfall, but branches did hit it and moved some of the stones (which is why 1 is just sitting there). So I had to slightly adjust things as best I could so the water wouldn't run off to much to the left.
This is the best shot I have of the "upper stream". Pretend the white salvia in the middle aren't there -- that is a common resting spot for new plants so I don't have to water them :) They are resting on a flat piece of slate (?) linking the second pool to the stream. You can see the lovely "green snot" algae on the flat slate going from the first pool to the second. This picture was taken mid June.
Very cool!
Hi Evie!!! Welcome to the water forum!!! Thank you so much for sharing your picture of your pond!!! It's lovely!!! I just love those dainty little purple flowers to the right side of the pond. Could you possible tell me what they are? I can't quite make them out.
In the 4:26 PM post? Those are iris laying down.
If you are asking about the 4:41 post, those are penstemon: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/69185/.
And glad you like! Hopefully soon I'll post a picture from the home office window so you can see the whole thing like I usually do. My landscaping is very much directed by the view from the window! :)
Got to it sooner than I thought (gotta love it when work is slow!).
Here's the whole water system from the 2nd story window (which is more like 2.5 stories as half the basement is exposed in the back). Yes, the patio is my new plant holding area :)
So pretty!
Brenda
This is our pond and stream, 5 years old now, and is the centerpiece of my garden. A bridge and waterfall are just outside the picture.
This message was edited Aug 5, 2008 6:55 AM
Your garden is very natural and quite serene!!!! I know from experience how much enjoyment you receive from it. Do you keep fish?