Hey y'all do tell what do you grow in your water gardens?
what can ya grow that the roots will be in the water yet grow up to "cover the back liner.
what oxygenators do you prefer?
marginals?
floaters ......and I don't mean the kind in drinks lol
What do you grow in your water gardens??
I don't grow ANY oxygenators. My pond is in afternoon sun. As a result, every single oxygenator I have ever read about and tried has proven to be an algae magnet.
Here are the other things I grow (on purpose, LOL):
1. Elephant ears (I keep these in pots)--Imperial/illustris and Black Magic. The Imperial is new, but I have a tiny Black Magic that I can share.
2. Yellow flag irises from Sheila, along with a blue Louisiana that she included by accident and we just love.
3. Lemon bacopa. This was not intended as an oxygenator, but certainly serves as one. It attracts algae, but it's still worth the hundreds of little blue flowers. I can share a lot of this if you want some.
4. Blue pickerel weed, from Sheila.
5. Two water lilies (pink and lemon). Can't share these this year, sorry. I divided the pink one to death last year, and the lemon one is new and tiny. Maybe in the spring.
6. Horsetail rush, from Sheila (definitely keep it potted!).
7. Another sedge from Sheila that I can't remember the name of.
8. Primrose creeper, which as I said on another thread, covered my pond in about a month. I just cleaned out most of it this afternoon, but kept a couple of pieces so I'll be cleaning it out again in about six weeks. Lovely yellow flowers and a great fast cover, but you do have to keep it in check.
9. Lotus plants, two different ones (these are in mini-water gardens, not the main pond). They are new this year so I can't share them yet, but you can buy them from the spring Texas Water Lilies coop in March for $5 each. Incredibly beautiful--well worth it.
ok by algae magnet you mean if you have them you will have algae? or they attract it so it dint' all over in the pond?
I've found in my sitting here surfing most of the evening after dark that I could do mexican petunia as a marginal and the ruella's too...I have those two already in the flower beds.
I have several canna's around and I've been told I can use those as marginals
I'm trying to figure out what to use for the back of the pond to "cover" the liner that goes up to the waterfall and the timbers.
The front of it is about 16" tall but the back of it is about 28" tall so I want to put something that will grow up and "hide" the liner more or less yet not take over the whole pond as it is only 32 " wide
and trying to decide what to put along the back side above the waterfall in the ground so you dont look at the bare ground behind it LOL
Here's a rough picture of it it is further along then this now ....
Mibus
You have been here and saw how bad my boggy/pond area needs thinning. Just come get a load when you wish. If you remember some grow pretty tall and will cover the areas you want covered. I have most of the things that pbtx listed. Also the Parrots feather is a neat water plant. Umberella plant is also a good one.
D
Glad the pond did work out for you.
well duh DD did I think about your place ...no ..shame on me LOL
I've just been trying to figure out what to "plant" and where ...
I've got a field trip today out to tyler state park so I"ll try and figure a few things out hopefully I can find an outlet to plug the laptop in so I can do some more looking to figure out low growers and tall ones LOL
Phyl, one of the articles today is about pond plants.
What I mean by algae magnets is that that is where my algae blooms get started. If I have a clear pond, and there's anacharis growing in there, I will first see algae growing on the anacharis. If there's enough anacharis to do its job, the algae covers it all and then spreads all over the pond.
I don't remember the names of all the other oxygenators that I've used. There might be others that I haven't tried that don't have that problem. I've heard that the parrot's feather Dde mentioned is a cool one.
I've also always heard that a "balanced pond" won't get algae blooms. That hasn't ever been true for me. My original pond was there for three years and I still had at least one bloom a year. I tore the pond up last fall to make it larger, and so far algae hasn't been a problem. Maybe because I haven't put any fish in it yet.
Everyone has their own algae solution. I don't use chemicals, so peroxide works for me.
I have a higher back too. Do you have a shelf back there for pots? If not, you can use bricks. Lots of things will grow up and hide the liner. The pickerel weed and elephant ears get tall enough. The cannas will too, but you might want to check on that. I've read that a lot of the hybrids won't grow well in ponds.
there are 2 shelves one is just barely in the water and the second one is roughly 11-13' then the bottom but they are on the sides of the pond then it drops down to the bottom which is about 15 in deep
This message was edited Jul 18, 2008 10:12 PM
was out at Tyler State Park all day with the boys and girls club but thank Christi I just read it.
I WISH YOU COULD COME HERE AND I COULD STOCK YOU FOR THE NEXT YEAR!!!!!!
C
Well, you know that your water liliies need to go in the deepest part? So keep that section for them.
As for everything else... as long as it's not buried on the bottom of the pond, everything else seems to grow wherever I put it. If they have the right sun, it doesn't seem to matter if they're at 8" or 3". As long as they have water, they're happy.
Next year???? I want NOW LMAO
gotta get some plants in there so they can start covering some of the water edges and shade over the pump
Once the water warms up the pump goes for awhile stops for about 5 mins or so then goes again...until the sun goes down and the water temp goes down.
I went and dug up the EE's that are volunteers in the flower beds and have them potted and on the shelves on the sides along with the mexican petunia's and a few ruella....picked up some aquarium gravel ?pea gravel tonight at walley world to put on top of the "soil" of the plants
DH says I can't dig up any cannas yet til we see if the stuff in there now lives LOL
I almost went to the lakes edge today as they had cat tails there ...but I was a good girl and didn't
C dmail me your schedule this weekend and I'll talk to D and see what he says
hehehe I thought you would be popping in here yet LOL.
I just don't want to drown anything by putting it in the 15' of water
Oh I am going to be making sure there is room for water lilies
It's just so bare and I have to figure out what to put around the back side too in the dirt above the water fall and on the sides LOL
Heh--LOL! I know just how you feel!
Remember that you want to keep low-growing stuff on the front side, so you can see the pond. I'm still trying to figure out how to re-landscape mine. My ruellia filled all of that in before and did a great job, but I am tired of digging up all the volunteers. This time I planted Charlene's alocasias at the ends (oh, right, like I don't have enough of those, but I love them, LOL). Besides that I put Becki's Iron Cross oxalis and some sedums of different heights. I also have a window at the back of mine and didn't want stuff there to get so tall it would block the view from the kitchen. So I have daylilies, sedums and salvias of all different heights growing behind. Love the color combos.
Don't forget to leave a clear spot so that you can get to the pond for maintenance. :)
yeah I am trying to figure all of that out too LOL
I'm still learning what is what in Texas and have to learn how tall everything gets too.
here is what it looks like with the waterfall going ...mind you he had to use mortar he just couldn't just put it in the cracks and leave more of the rock showing but he says in time it will wear down some.....men ..LOL
anyway you can see behind the fall are and it is just ...yuck LOL
the second rock on the left is where the second shelf ends and of course where you see the "hose" is the pump area and the second shelf on that side is next to the pump.
Phyllis, whatever plants you put in there, I would definately suggest you keep in pots. I will bring you a stand of Japanese Umbrella, Water Lily, Pickerel, Primrose, Lizard Tail, Horsetail rush, EE, and Varigated Sweet Flag (grass). If there are any of these you don't want let me know.
oh anything that goes IN the pond will be in pots
*sigh* the pump worked all night just fine and here it is only 8 am and it has already stopped and started again
and talking to DH about me making the trip to LouC's maybe today if I can get ahold of here and she will be around
well it's official my pond water is green ...I knew it would happen and thought maybe since I had bought and used a pond starter kit it might not happen so green but it is LOL
Phyllis, I am not the expert but I think this may be part of the process. Being in full sun would encourage algea but I don't know what to put in it. I have read something about peroxide. I would post on the water garden forum for assistance and there are dozens that will jump in and help.
Lily_Love posted yesterday that the ruella, Mexican Petunia, will grow directly in the water with no pot. I'm going to try it. I think you got some, not sure.
You are now a full-fledged ponder. The way everyone learns what to do about whatever, is have it happen and then try to figure out what to do next. Good reason for waiting a little while on the fish. BTW, if you keep the water moving with the pump/fountain, mosquitoes won't lay their eggs. The require still water.
Good luck.
Christi
oh yeah it is part of the process and the water is not totally still with the waterfall and Dh had to put the fountain one in too (sigh and he tries to be so tough sounding LOL)and I did get some dunks for the water too
I'll have to go check out her post as I do have both and have them in pots on one of the shelves.
The dunks get pricey after a while. Just remember you don't have to use them unless the water isn't moving.
so sick of this hot weather and we still have 2 months more of it.