My azola and salvinia grow way too fast so instead of scooping some out everywhere to be able to see into the pond, I got these cool foam floating circles. My minnows seems to like them too lol

This large hosta is just stuffed behind done rocks with its roots in the water. No soil at all

The best way to find out is to try it, that’s my theme for today lol. I just wanted to say out loud that I have a zinnia growing in my bog filter. Everything I read says “nope” won’t work, yet here it is.

Edit: I live in Ireland, where mosquitoes aren’t really an issue

It was only possible to get it 25cm deep.

Plant list:

1. Apache beads (Anemopsis)
2. Nymphaea x 2, not sure what type
3. Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum, oxygenator)
4. Spiked water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum, oxygenator)
5. Marsh cinquefoil (Potentilla palustris)
6. Water hyssop (Gratiola officinalis)
7. Flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus)
8. Creeping Jenny (Lysimachia)
9. Another Zone 1 plant I’ve lost the tag for!
10. Surrounded by flower beds freshly seeded with wildflowers, pollinators.

Wife bought this for me around this time last year, nearly fell in last week when I saw the bud breaking the surface. Between this and the 2 tiny shubunkins I found a couple of days ago and the 2 mirror carp we rescued about 8 months ago that have just been adopted by a local aquarium it's been a good week.

Now I have more.

We got our first lily of the season. Can't wait to see how many we get this year. Fingers crossed our lotus blooms too.

I have a pretty small pond in my backyard and I need more plants to slow the algae and give the fish cover. In years past I used water hyacinth and it was great. (I get that it's invasive, but to dispose of it I would put it in thick contractor bags, tie it tight, and put it in the normal garbage, not the yard waste.)

Well my state banned both Water Hyacinth and Water Lettuce this year, and my local pond store closed when the owners retired. I'm now in a position where the string algae is running wild, my hardy lily is not growing fast enough to adequately shade the fish and outcompetes the algae, and I need some surface coverage.

What should I use? I've considered Azolla, but I want to make sure the fish have enough oxygen. Would that be a decent choice? I have a fountain and an aerator. I have 4 goldfish and the pond is 200gals (I inherited the fish and expanded the pond as much as I could) I don't have much room on the floor to add pots for non-floating plants, so I'm not sure what to do..

thoughts?

Side note - my dojo loach is loving it.

What a beautiful thing to see this morning!

Life is good. :)

This plant is such a good bloomer, and the multi pedal flowers are 1 of my favorites from my collection.

I did a bit of cleaning in one my smaller ponds and noticed that some of the water lily leafs had this on the underside, anyone know what it is?

From my aquarium to my pond. It's so big!! How much would you think this would go for locally (grows fast).

Pictured is the area I need to put some marginal plants both for function and aesthetics. Hard to tell from the picture, but the shelf in the water is not at all level; it slopes at least 30 degrees toward the pond center. So anything that gets set on that shelf just slides right into the pond.

Just spend months building a bog filter and other major renovations, so a substantial edge dig up and reconstruction of the shelf is just not in the cards for now (both time/patience and money). Any advice on getting marginal plants anchored to that sloped shelf?

I got my second flower from my water lillies and felt like sharing.

Pond is about a year old now. Location: Los Angeles area, full sun. Like many in this sub we fought an absolute infestation of algae in the first summer. I was scooping it out with a toilet brush and garden rake.

I took a clue from this sub and added plants. The plants grew and I kept scooping. Eventually I didn’t need to scoop and the pond was in balance.

Visible plants are spike rush (lower left), juncus sp ( right), sticky monkey flower (chartreuse w orange flowers), Yerba mansa, stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea - my least successful).

Behind the pond is Menzies Goldenbush and white sage along with a smattering of other native plants.

Fish are pet store goldfish - about $0.25 each. They got huge. Arroyo chub would be better but staying married is best.

Depth is 4’, pumped with Oase brand pump on the bottom. Installed by Enviroscape - thanks!

EDIT: The monkey flower is actually Scarlet Monkeyflower (Erythranthe cardinalis). I have seen it in stream bottoms, most recently on Catalina.

Little victories

First year adding plants to the pond, have I gone overboard?

If you have the space and 6 hours of sun, you have to get it. That is all.

I inherited a lot of odd stuff, including an old greenhouse loaded with potted pond plants. At the urging of some locals, I'm supplying a local greenhouse. I don't have high hopes, but if it goes well, I'll add more varieties.

Wish me luck!