Ponds - Naturally

As I've promised to show how my ponds look like, here's my little contribution to the fascinating world of ponds: mine were started five and a half years ago on a bare plot, the water covers approx. 140 square metres, and they are and have always been the definitive feature in the garden. The whole planting follows the watergarden style, or, at least, that's how it was planned.

I'd like to show how their planting and surroundings evolved over time without any help of electricity or pond chemicals and prove that with the right choice of plants and a little care in spring and autumn even the smallest pond can work!

Here are some photos to start with:

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This is the small pond, next to the terrace, photo taken last August.

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Another shot from the same pond, before we fished out the single koi carp that made all the mess in the water...

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This is my avatar with the waterlilies, although I never wanted it to resemble to Monet's garden in Argenteuil...

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The large pond's plants, the simplest, purest white waterlily, not some cultivar with the blooming Stratiotes aloideses and a huge Nymphaea 'Sulphurea' in the background.

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This was the first spring of the large pond with some flag irises, Acorus and Japanese Iris. The edge was planted with low-growing Nepeta.

 

Very impressive Agatha.:thumb:

You have done a great job there.
Not sure they would be classified as the smallest of ponds though.:D

 

Very natural looking, in fact, extremely natural looking. And lots of interest everywhere.

How do you keep the water clear if you don't use a filter? Did the water balance out and become clear over time? Do you have any problem with blanket weed or the water going green?

How thick does the ice become, where you are, in the winter?

 

Beautiful photos. An inspiration.

 

Thank you very much, Pete!

By saying even the smallest ponds can work like mine do I merely meant that I saw really small ponds that were just as clear and healthy without filtration, chemicals and the rest of that pond chemistry thing...

 

There are three very important things in keeping the water crystal clear:
- waterplants everywhere
- enough shade
- less fish that go without feeding.

I grow a lot of Myriophyllums, Ceratophyllums, Vallisnerias that filter the pond naturally. They multiple every season, the bottom of the pond is covered in seaweed, in lack of a better word for sweetwater species. For cleaning purposes floating Eichhornia crassipes would be best but unfortunately, being a tropical annual that requires a lot of heat, it keeps failing me. So do Pistias. They act as filters: for their growth they subtract all that is dissolved in the water, e.g. degrading fish food, and, in short, everything that is organic.

Marginal plants do the same, especially Carexes: you plant them in a planting medium - I use heavy clay - then cover the soil 2" in. thick with crisp sand gained from the river (if you use other quarries from the land your water will never become clear because the tiniest grains always stay afloat) and then let the plants grow. After a year when they have used up all their sources, they will use what they can find in the water.

Neither. The water never becomes green if you cover at least 60% of the surface with waterlilies. Their giant leaves act as a perfect screen from the sun. Same goes for Eichhornia. Excess sunshine can - and will - turn the water green if there isn't enough vegetation in it. The prolific blanket weed is the result for the lot of organic matter and other nutrients that can be found in liquid form in the water. Spawns eat them all and if you don't feed your fish (no, they won't die of hunger, don't believe them), they nibble the little blanket weed that clings to the liner on the edge of the pond.

The same old axiom: plants grow if they find food. Deprive them of the food, and they won't. Select what you want to grow and eliminate what you don't. To get rid of the algae, you can have spawns. All species of frogs and toads use water for their reproductive cycle, so when the spawns hatch (hundreds or even thousands of them), they are so hungry they clean the first emerging algae until the growing waterlilies can cover the water effectively. They swim in circles, in herds of a hundred or so along the margin of the pond and eat whatever they can find. By June some dozens remain, because they serve as fishfood and only the fittest 5% survive.

It depends on the winter. One foot is the average, it can be more or little less. If my Nelumbo survived this winter too, then it wasn't more. :p

 

Awww, thank you so much!

And thanks a lot, JWK, back was patted! :D

I put some more photos here to demonstrate what I have just written. Perhaps you believe me if you see it... My brother-in-law shot them with a waterproof camera.

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Wow, I would like to see your pond and, most of all, how you planted it and its surroundings! I'll try to look it up in the archives, if you don't mind...

As to summer evenings, it's similar to the Highlands: you need to put on an extra warm jumper for a candlelit dinner on the terrace because of the special climate of this cold valley.

And here are some more photos to show that even such a cold place can produce a heap of roses, and natural as the surroundings are, I just couldn't resist the touch of romantic roses, especially Eden that climbs on the semi-circular pergola...

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This photo is from August, with some gauras (I use them instead of angels' fishing rod), ornamental grasses Miscanthus sinensis and M. 'Zebrinus', some Ligularias for contrast and Rosa 'Pullman Orient Express' by Meilland. This is a lovely tea that keeps dying back every year and returns as a Phoenix from its ashes...

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This is how the garden looks like in June, when everything is in bloom. A dozen or so Acer palmatums surround the ponds, but they are still far too small to take the lead in the planting scheme. The largest one is an unusual weeper, Omure yama. It'll take some more years until its habit establishes.

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Here's another one from last August: The Ligularias are in full bloom, and the water is filled with Ceratophyllums and other waterweeds (bottom left corner)

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In the background, behind the bridge you can see how much the pond is filled with waterplants: in fact, they multiple until they have enough space, the frogs and the turtles usually sunbathe on the top of the waterweed heap, where the pond's surface is so uneven...

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In June the ornamental grasses dominate the waterside and Spartina pectinata 'Aureovariegata' grows to 2 metres until August, and has to be kept in place because it tends to escape like a badly behaved bamboo...

 

Thanks for sharing Agatha, I must say that is a very impressive pond. I'm going to be putting one in our back garden shortly to try do my bit for biodiversity and because it generally looks pretty. Have you found that having the pond has increased the amount of wildlife in your garden?

Chris

 

Thanks very much, Chris!

I can only encourage you to have a pond: it's fun! Especially when it comes to taking photos of the heap of waterlilies... :wink:

And yes, it does attract a lot of wildlife in the garden. If you live as near a little bit of unspoilt nature as we do, then you'll end up having wild ducks, herons and hawks fishing from the pond, the kingfisher having your smaller goldfish as a quick breakfast right in front of your eyes and all sorts of frogs and toads invading the water as the first signs of spring appears. I had never known this before we started it...

There's one more thing you have to know, though: these amphibians come and stay in the water for a month or so until they have spawns. In two weeks or so they'll make such a noise that only the most tolerant neighbours - or those having ponds as well - will listen to it without a remark, although we never did find it annoying or disturbing, it's like the noise of a watermill or the traffic on a deserted country lane. When you let nature cross the threshold of your garden, all sorts of creatures will come as well.

 

I've been cleaning the garden since the last patch of snow melted, that is, since the 16th... And there's still a lot to do. After innumerable wheelbarrows of dead leaves, branches, giant blackened rose canes, that made a hill out of the compost heap , it's still a long way to the finish. The lawn badly needs some cleaning after the thorough combing with a rake, but at least, it begins to look green again! :hehe:

Nearly all the marginal plants are cut back now, and I'm thinking of halving the amount of waterweed in the large pond so larger patches of blue will become visible. The white waterlilies have already pushed out their first leaves - in some days they'll already float on the surface and spring will officially start in the pond as well.

This afternoon's photos, after the winter devastation has been partially cleared, with our neighbour's garden shed in the background:

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And a little trick with water reflections:

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Natural swimming ponds

All they need is water circulation, but I do suspect it can work even without that if they divide the cleaning zone and the swimming zone with a green net to protect the swimmers meeting fish. They are rather a curious lot. :D I wonder what they can do with the frogs...:wink:

The basic thing is, the whole system works similarly to a natural pond: it should have at least 60% cleaning zone with Arundo, Carex, Phragmites, or even with Typha and Glyceria. They act as natural filters, just like waterweed, and with a right amount of natural coverage of the shallow zone with Pistia and Eichhornia (the latter is amazingly effective - in fact, in warmer climates it is an invasive weed) they can maintain natural balance.

Some examples, although the water is not blue, it never is under natural conditions unless you colour it or your pond liner is deep blue...:

http://www.google.co.uk/images?q=na...ozilla:en-US:official&tbs=isch:1&sa=2&start=0

http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=e...esult_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCIQsAQwAw

I keep thinking if I put the ponds under a gigantic glass or plastic house, it could work all year round... Um, aren't there any panels of the two gigantic biomes they haven't used up at the Eden Project? :hehe:

 

I love the idea of a natural swimming pool. Some of those mentioned in the links you posted look beautiful, and all without the need for chlorine and other chemicals.

Shame I don't have a bigger garden!