Show Us Your Water Gardens ....Big Or Small We Love Them All

Trixi, thanks for the compliments. How many GPH do you have going over your falls?

Here is how my experiment is shaping up this summer. I have a temporary liner (plastic tarpaulin) in place to help me gauge how big I need my perm. liner to be, and intend the pond area to extend back beyond where it stops now and be fed by a stream off to the left of what is the rock pile where you see the pines planted (right side of photo). You can kind of make out the stream along the edge of the pines. At the head of the stream will be the settlement pond. I have an old, smaller fiberglass liner (with a small crack) that once fixed will make for a perfect settlement pond.

We'll see if I have saved enough pennies to get the perm. liner by fall. ☺

It's gonna be beautiful Willie!

Song, I can't remember how big it is, but it's the biggest one that Lowe's sells. When I first put in the pond I bought a really expensive pump($500), and it promptly went out as soon as the warranty was up. I bought another equally expensive pump and the same thing happened. Our water is really hard here. So, I gave up and went to Lowe's. Now when I have trouble I take it back and Lowe's gives me another. We have a wonderful arrangement!!

Thanks! Texas_Trixi

Wow! Willie and Trixi those are some great ponds. Thanks for all of the close ups Trixi, I am always looking at the way other folks have made their ponds and very seldom get to see the "nuts and bolts" about how it is put together.

Willie be sure to take pics along the way so we can see how it is progressing. I really like the way it looks so far.

Songs, I really like the way your pond looks just the way it is. After all of the hard work you put into it you deserve to just take some time to enjoy it for a while. :^)

I agree with tetley!!! Songs yours is one of the most tranquil ponds and streams that I've seen!!! I'd enjoy it for a long while!!!

Trixi & Willie I really liked Yall's ponds!!!! They look so natural!!! I would have never known that you used logs on the back side of it Trixi!!! Pretty smart if you ask me!!!!

Thanks Tetley and Jeri. I certainly DO enjoy it - but y'all know what it's like don't ya? It's never finished - always a work in progress and we're always finding ways to make it a little better...or am I the only OCD one?? LOL

Thanks everyone- You are too kind. I was just a single mom who wanted something she couldn't afford and figured out how to get it!

Trixi

No, you are not the only OCD one. Mine started as a hole to plant a shrub and just kept growing into a pond, another pond, a stream, and who knows what next year!

Beautiful Ponds folks! I am always lurking on this thread☺It amazes me how many different looks can be achieved,yet how wonderful each pond is. Thanks for sharing everyone!

This is my 90 gal small potted plants pond.

This pic is the other 2 ponds I have. One is a 90 gal frog pond and the big one is a thousand gal Koi pond. Everything is still,after 12 yrs, a work in progress☺

OOPS! wrong pic. Here's the pic of both.

Posy, I especially love the pond with the tree stump and the waterfall coming out of the barrel. Makes me want another pond:)

Thanks evesta☺ Personally, I think you should have another Pond,lol. How bout a Frog Pond?

Is anybody else having a shortage of frogs this year? I had 1000's of frogs!!! This year there aren't many. I don't understand what happened to them.

A frog pond would be great!!! A wakin/frog pond would be even better:)

I added tadpoles but I think they all ended up as koi food. Koi are such little piggies. You would think between all the feedings, eating the eggs from the goldfish spawn and snacking on my waterplants they might not need to eat the tadpoles. They are lucky I love them. Well, at least they are nice and fat for winter.

This is my first year for a separate frog pond and so far it is solving the piggy Koi problem. The frogs get big enough so the fish don't eat them when they visit the big pond. It is so fun to watch the Bullfrogs in the big pond and listen to the croaking. Then in the morning when I go out, the frogs are back in the frog pond,safe and sound. I had to add more rocks for protection since my cat seems to think they are fair game. He's afraid of them most of the time anyhow.

This is the daily stare down and the frogs win☺

That is funny:) My one cat would definately try to catch frogs. And I have a few terriers who could cause problems as well. They would have to have an island and many protected areas to stay safe from our land herd, that's for sure.

Eve, is wakin a type of frog?

Wow! A cat and a few terriers,now that could definitely be trouble in the Frog Kingdom☺

No, its a large Japanes goldfish. Check out my other post... I am wanting to breed them but I hear they are piggies so mayb the frogs need their own space. Hhmmm... two more ponds;)

YES! I think two more ponds are in order. Maybe I'll dig two more ponds too! That would only make five for me,one can never have too many ponds don'tcha know☺☺☺

Yes, that's certainly true! Especially for posyblossom because fish try to follow her home and the necessary pond holes are secretly dug behind canna beds. I expect her DH has thrown in the towel by now and joined in. ;>)

Those Wakins are truly tempting to add to the mix. I'm afraid it's too late in the season to acclimate them here outdoors and I havn't the room indoors for another aquarium so I'll have to wait until spring. :(

HAHAAHAHA!Snapple,He did throw in the towel and he ate a little 'Crow' to boot☺

The Fish do follow me around but they do it in the Pond although I have been peeking under the Pectoral Fins, but so far I see no signs of legs and feet growing☺

Well I have my pond for the most part (at least this season) finished. Here are some pics.

Another pic.

Close up of the falls.

Here is what it looked like last fall.

My fish at least some of them.

More of the fish.

I want to thank you all I have learned alot from reading thru all of the posts on here. It has made the whole process much easier and so enjoyable. I hope to learn much more from you all and maybe in the future help others as well. Again thank you.

Good job!!! You've made alot of headway in the last year!!! Isn't it nice to have a guiding hand in a project as large as that!!! DG is the best!!!

qwertyted - Its come along so nicely. What a job you've done.

jeri11 - DG and the posters are responsible for most of my good stuff and have prevented countless mistakes.

I wish I would have had you guys when I did mine!! Even having one for 11 years there are times it gets out of balance and I still need help. For one thing I know my flower beds wouldn't be bordered with limestone because I would never have made that mistake and bought them for the pond and then discovered(Thank God) before I built the pond but not before I bought 2 big gravel trucks of lime stone. LOL!!! I was pretty sure Jim was gonna choke me over that one but he looked at me and said OK what are you gonna do with all those boulders!!!! MEN!! Will probably never figure them out either!!!!

here's the smallest! my toad pond

Very cute!

This is the start. I started this mid-summer and hope to embellish upon it next year. I was really happy to see pics of other ponds. I'm getting some really great hints on how to 'soften' and 'colorize' mine.

This question is for any one. first of all your ponds and waterfeatures are all just lovely. I've always thought of having a pond in my backyard, and I have plenty room for one. My problem is ,I have a horrible fear of snakes. I just want to know if the ones of you who have ponds, with tall plants, and rocks, have any problem with seeing them? I just love to look at all your pictures,but the first thing I think about when I see them, is how good a place for a snake to hide. Just let me know how common it really is.
Thanks-Lynda

If you are gonna have snakes then you are gonna have snakes!!!! I live in south Louisiana and there were snakes before I built my pond or put a single plant in place. So of course afterwards there were still snakes. I brought rubber knee boots for working around the pond and I do most of the clean up for it in very early spring.

After 10 years of the pond and putting out moth balls and snake away to no avail last year we were adopted by cats and one crazy peacock and I never saw one single snake.

I live in an area that has snakes as well but have seen on only once or twice. They will hear you coming and most of the time will disappear way before you ever get there.

I live in an urban neighborhood. I have snakes at my ponds. They are non-venomous. I love having them. Wildlife has to be somewhere and I feel lucky that I've created an environment they like. ( It's the raccoons and herons that get my dander up, but that's another story.) Last spring when I was cleaning up the hydrangea garden one was apparently hibernating in the loose leaves at the base and I actually had a handful of one! I'm not sure who was more surprised, the snake or me! First time I was able to get a real closeup look. It was neat.

If you have water, rocks and/or logs you might have snakes. If you have that deep a fear then ponding might not be for you. Perhaps you could try a raised tub water garden with a small water lilly and some goldfish. There are some really nice ones on this thread.