Gardening Topic for June 2003
Adventures in Water Gardening

Water Gardening is becoming more and more popular and for good reason. It's wonderful!

I am quite addicted to water gardening and have learned a lot by my mistakes. My first water garden was a whiskey barrel (unlined. Oops) ! It looked great, 'Blue water iris' (Iris laevigata) 'Parrot feather' ( Myriophyllum aquaticum) and a Dwarf hardy water lily (Nymphaea 'Yellow Pigmy') all sitting on cement blocks and bricks in the water, with $1.00 worth of feeder goldfish swimming happily around.

It became evident to me in just one day how popular the water garden would be. I was finding myself, my husband and everyone that stopped by leaning over the little pond looking at the fish and in awe of the beauty of the unusual plants. It seemed like the perfect garden!

It was not too long and things began to change . I am not sure what killed my fish faster, the whiskey or the leaching of the cement blocks. It was obvious that I needed to make a change. I decided it best to add a whiskey barrel liner. I scooped out the remaining two intoxicated goldfish, put the liner in and rebuilt. However, the liner alone was not the answer. Doing more research, I discovered that Ph is critical in maintaining a healthy water garden. The bricks and cement blocks were removed, inverted plastic pots were added in their place. I added some oxygenating grasses - 'Anacharis' ( Elode canadenisis). In no time everything balanced. I had a great cycle going, plants, water and fish. It was great . . . for a month.

Then I realized "This pond is not big enough." There were prettier fish out there, more aquatic plants and beautiful water lilies. So, out came the shovels and the digging proceeded. I was lucky the spot I had chosen had direct sunlight. ( 6 to 8 hours a day). A nice hole was dug, with a big shelf to hold marginal plants ( iris and grasses). We decided to wait until morning to put in the liner.

That night the rains came and collapsed the sides of the pond. It seems as if we had not thought about the run-off that would be looking for the closest hole to go into. It felt like a disaster, but it actually was a wake up call:  we had to deal with the problem of the run-off before we actually installed the pond. We re-dug the hole, raised the sides of the pond a bit and feathered it out so the run-off would not go into the pond. Then we had a nice 6'x10' pond.

We purchased marginal plants 'Dwarf Bamboo' ( Dulichium arundinaceum), 'Blue Water Iris' ( Iris laevigata) 'Sweet Manna Grass' ( Glyceria maxima variegata), and nice goldfish this time--real beauties and friendly too. They quickly became pets and were always looking for us to appear with food. I was having a bit of an algae problem from too much water surface being exposed to the sun. It is recommended that 80% of the water be covered with plant material.

My mother had purchased a beautiful hot pink water lily 25 years ago and planted the tuber in the lake where she had a summer home. I figured that since it was a hybrid and not a native plant there would be no harm in collecting myself a nice tuber and planting it in my water garden. That is when I found out that bringing a plant from a natural pond also brings unwanted guests. My fish contracted a parasite--little white worms sticking out of their sides. (Another learning experience.) The worms were eliminated by adding aquatic salt to the pond .01% (ok for aquatic plants). My fish were now growing, we were feeding them a lot and they were in turn fertilizing the water. That is when I discovered once the fish population gets bigger, ammonia and nitrites build up in the water.

So a filter was purchased that would clear the water of the toxins. Because the filter was added after the pond was made, it took some creative thinking to hide it, but it found a home behind a shrub and it all worked great. Nice happy healthy plants and healthy fish . Life was good.

Then I decided I needed a lotus. I squeezed it on the upper shelf of the pond. Suddenly my pond was looking small again! The lotus does not require deep water, just a few inches . So I decided to make a bog. I found a spot in full sun, dug a hole, lined it and added well-rotted compost and water. I put my lotus in, she was happy and so was I. But one knows lotus come in many colors and one is just not enough. So I made another bog and put some not-so-well-rotted compost in. This time it burned my tuber and I lost that one. I let that bog sit for a year and added another lotus that is now thriving . Because the bogs are standing water with no fish to eat the mosquito larvae, I treat them with a biological mosquito control. My collection of lotus is now growing, Nelumbo 'Perry's Giant Sunburst' (yellow), N. 'Mrs. Perry D. Slocum' (opens pink and changes to yellow over the three days it is open), N. 'Pekinese Rubrum' ( hot Pink), N. 'Empress' ( White with pink edges), and N. 'Angel Wings' ( smaller white flowers), all in their own bog or in the water garden. Again, I am realizing I needed more space. I decided I wanted to try tropical water lilies.

So we built a new pond/water garden. By now we were becoming experts. This pond was built with the knowledge of our past mistakes . It is 20' x15'. It also has a second 6'x10' filtering pond attached, where plant material and lava rock filter the water.

I now have many enjoyable water lilies. The hardies are whites, pinks, reds and yellows. The tropicals are either day bloomers or night bloomers and they are truly magnificent! They are blue, white, reds and pinks . And the fragrance... Heavenly!

Having a water garden is truly the most enjoyable kind of gardening there is. There are so many exotic plants that can be grown in water. I recommend it to all.

A few Dos and Don'ts
* Do select your site carefully; full sun ( 6 to 8 hours a day) will allow you to grow more of a variety of beautiful plants.
* Don't put your ponds in a low area; plan for run off.
* Do be sure not put your pond close to trees. Decomposing leaves do not make for a healthy pond and can rob your fish of oxygen.
* Do plan plenty of built- in shelves in the pond to hold marginal plants
* Don't put any bricks or cement in the pond. Ph needs to be maintained at 6.8 to 7.8
* Don't line the bottom of your pond with stones. They look pretty at first, but soon get all green and slimy looking and hold a lot of the bacteria that is harmful and is difficult to clean.
* Don't collect plants from the wild; they might bring parasites, disease and also might be protected or an endangered species.
* If using a whiskey barrel, line it.
* If you are using an old bathtub or other light-colored container, paint the inside black. It will not show the algae so easily.
* If you plan on fish you will need a filtration system.
*During the winter, do supply your fish with a hole in the ice so the pond can breath. Don't chop; the compression can injure your fish; heaters are available.
*Plan ahead. Look around you. See what could contaminate your pond.
* Do Remember a water garden is a garden and not a swimming pool. Algae will grow on the sides, the water will not be crystal clear, but that is how the plants and fish like it.
If planned right, it is such a pleasure . One can grow some of the most magnificent flowers you will ever enjoy. And,  if the planning is not perfect, just think how much you will learn!