Small Ponds

This is one of our two lotus ponds. Unlike waterlilies, lotuses require a rather huge space so we have one in each pond and the ponds are about 12 feet across. They don't have to be really deep, I think these are about 18 inches.

This is the pond where we grow our miniature water lilies. This is also about 12 feet across, but deeper, probably about 3 feet. There are 10 or 12 different waterlilies in this pond because they don't take up nearly as much space.

This is a smaller pond with just a couple of waterlilies and a clump of iris. It is in a slightly shadier location, so we don't get flowers here as early as in some of the sunnier ponds. Waterlilies need at least 6 hours of full sun a day to flower well.

This is a tiny pond, probably only 4 feet across and hold just one waterlily, Peach Glow. You can tell that this is sunnier by all of the Duck Weed on the surface. I need to scoop a lot of that out because it keeps the water cool and water lilies need heat. This used to be a small peat bog for Saracenia (pitcher plants) but the deer were too fond of them and mostly destroyed the planting, so we dug it out and put a waterlily here instead. So far the ponds you've seen are lined with rubber roofing scraps we got for almost nothing.

This is an iris bog which is also a shallow pond, only about 6 or 8 inches of water - which means that when it doesn't rain this one has to be refilled frequently.

Now for the really tiny ponds. These are mostly just a foot or 2 across and are made from feed bowls from the farm supply store. They are a heavy rubber and not bothered by freezing and thawing and are cheap, especially compared to those preformed ponds, of which we have 2 and which were a real pain to dig since they are irregularly shaped. This one has a Skunk Cabbage in it.

This one is growing nothing but frogs! It is surrounded by ferns, hostas, lamium and moss.

This one is hard to see, since it is in so much shade, but there are 3 very small ponds which are in one of my miniature hosta beds. All are surrounded by rocks and I am starting to get some Saxifrages growing around the edges.

Last but not least is a pond just outside of my kitchen door. This one has a Golden Club growing in it. It is one of the few water plants that is truly a shade plant. It just won't grow in the sun.
More on the plants growing in the ponds in a different post.
Glad I finally found out how to put up lots of pictures at once. Sure made talking about small ponds easier.
What I didn't get a picture of is one of our medium sized ponds. Those are made with kiddy wading pools. We cover the bright blue with black trash bags so I looks more natural and then put some dirt in the bottom as we do with all of our pond. They are lines, but natural at the same time.
Jane