|
|
|
||||||||
|
SheilaJ's Ultimate Container Pond!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Scroll down for details on my newest and favorite pond!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
UPDATED PHOTOS: Pond 2004
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
This pond was built totally by me in the summer of 2003. The liner is actually a 300 gallon Rubbermaid stock tank, measuring 62x67 inches and 26 inches deep. I chose the stock tank because I was installing the pond on a slope and because it is much more durable than a flexible liner or a preformed pond. On the top of the hill, the pond extends about 2 inches above the ground to prevent runoff from the lawn. On the bottom of the hill, it is above ground about 17 inches.
I used 2/3 of a pallet (approx. 2000 pounds!) of Pennsylvania fieldstone to build the wall. The wall is actually freestanding and is merely there to camoflage the stock tank. I had never worked with stone before, but it was very easy to do.
For now, the pond has no pump or filter (I will be adding a concrete frog spitter next spring). The water cleared after about 6 weeks by using lots of plants. I have a Helvola dwarf waterlily, a pygmaea rubra lily, and a Perry's Double White lily. Marginals are Black Magic taro and dwarf papyrus. Floaters are water hyacinth, duckweed and azolla. Submerged aquatics include dwarf parrot feather, jungle vallisneria and hornwort.
I stocked the pond with about 10 mosquito fish and within months am already up to about 40 or 50. Also added 10 Japanese trapdoor snails. I may add a goldfish or two in the spring.
Landscaping around the pond is designed to look as tropical as possible. I have a musa basjoo banana which I will try to overwinter in place. The banana was knocked over in Hurricane Isabel but is slowly regrowing. The trellis has a passionflower caerulea on it. The light green plant in front of the trellis is ornamental sweet potato 'Marguerite' and the purple flowers behind it are Salvia 'Sizzler'. The orange flowers around the banana are a dwarf canna. To the left of the canna are an azalea, potted lotus, and potted allamanda - this area will be redesigned in the spring using a red hot poker and a devil's trumpet from other parts of the yard. On the far left is a butterfly bush 'Black Knight'.
I like to sit by the pond in the morning with my coffee or after work with a cool beverage. It is very soothing and I feel like I have taken a mini-vacation to the Caribbean!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Photo of pond on December 6, 2003, after about 10 inches of snow. Thermopond 100 watt deicer is doing its job! The black plastic contraption is a chicken wire cage filled with straw to overwinter the banana tree. Ugly but hopefully effective. I affectionately call it the "banana burrito". Click here to see how to build your very own banana burrito!
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
I began ponding a couple of years ago with small container ponds. You can see photos and descriptions of them at this web page
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
You can email me at SJohnson13@aol.com if you have questions or comments about my pond.
I am willing to share a limited number of mosquito fish if you come pick them up (I live in a northwest suburb of Baltimore, Maryland). I may have some plants to share or trade if you contact me around May.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
pond enthusiasts have visited this web page since October 8, 2003.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
This page was last updated on Sept. 8, 2004.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
| page created with Easy Designer |