Goodbye lawn. Hello pond!

To take my mind off the Armageddon in the plant dept, I'm building a pagoda.

Lifted it up a metre the other day and vertical panels have been inserted into five of the sections; the sixth section will be the entrance.

On three of the sections I'll probably be making up three stained glass inserts and putting them above the vertical panels. Each glass insert will be only 25% stained glass and the other 75% will be clear glass. Two sections will more than likely be left open on top and the entrance will be left open as well. (Well, that's the plan, anyway.)

 

just wondering, what is the roof made of?

 

Roof is sheets of aluminium sprayed with copper paint and then lacquered.

Vertical aluminium panels had black and copper powder put on and then baked in an oven in a local metal fabrication place.

 

oh.

 

Love the pagoda....nice job.

 

First, I'd like to congratulate on the fabulous job you did with your pond! In one or two years' time it'll look as if it had sprung to life naturally, considering the mass planting with the grasses, it's a perfect job! Have you never missed a little bit of lawn, BTW? Are there going to be some more trees nearby, to protect it from excess sunshine in the summer months?

As for the plants, bamboos are pretty hardy, but it's going to take some time until they grow back if you eventually have to cut them back... I'd wait until they show some signs as to where they want to spring back to life. Fuchsias: if they are the hardy F. magellanicas, you needn't worry, they tolerate everything without protection up to -20C° if it wasn't their first winter... Of course, they have to be treated as perennials when winters are as cold as this. Cordylines and Phormiums: if the central frond is ok, they should be fine, if they are rotted... that's not so good.

About the positioning of the pagoda: are you going to surround it with potted plants and climbers for the summer? I always associate these kinds of little summer houses with heaps of Bougainvillea, although I never wanted a Mediterranean garden...

And just one more thing: it is a splendid idea to plant so many ferns, I love them as well, but would you like to leave the stone wall as a definite backdrop to your pond view or are you going to cover it with some kind of climber later on? Excuse me for asking you so many questions, I just couldn't see such small details in your pictures...

 

Hibiscus Galaxy.
Hibiscus Palustris.
Hibiscus Militaris.
They just like a lot of water but don't do well if they stand ankle deep in water - and they appear very late in spring, here they bloom for three weeks and then gone.

I think even with Gunneras you have to think twice where to put them and rather create a bog garden for these, because constantly moist soil is fine but waterlogged isn't... Same goes for Rodgersias.

Astrantia Major.
Is a typical woodland plant, if you get enough shade for it, they're a lovely addition to any garden, although I did find that the bright coloured varieties attract the eye, whereas the simple pinkish-white looks fine only in closeup photos/macros.

Baptisia Australis.
pls. see in the last paragraph

Cimicifuga Racemosa.
Another shady woodland plant, mine died a slow death at the edge of the pond... But of course, with your more temperate summers it wouldn't boil/burn even if it gets a little sun... 'Brunette' has a lovely marroonish colour, btw.

Filipendula Ulmaria.
You can give it a try, although most marginal plants, incl. Japanese irises grow twice the size once their roots are not covered in water. I couldn't believe my eyes when I let one of the pale Irises that grew from seed live on near the pond without excess water.

Rodgersia Pinnata.
Instead, wouldn't it be better to try Japanese Petasites or Darmera peltata? They'd tolerate water a bit better, but best of all, again, would be a separate bog garden for them as well, you could even grow Lysichitons successfully!

Hippuris vulgaris, Thalia dealbata, Peltandra virginica, any kind of watermint, Acorus calamus (Variegatus is the best, imho), Juncus effusus 'Spiralis', Menyanthes trifoliata, Sagittarias, Butomus, Ranunculus, Hydrocotyle and Carexes. They all love waterlogged soil, marshes and the pondside - from the inside.

Because of the heavy frosts we get here, I usually put Pontederia cordata on the next step, one foot below the surface, that's where the Myriophyllum aquaticum grows here from...

Have you tried daylilies and common Rhubarb yet? Ligularias and all sorts of Lysimachias do well, too, if they're watered regularly. I don't know what kind of soil you have, there's extremely heavy clay in my garden and it retains water pretty well, perhaps that's a must for their survival in a sunny spot. I found that the simplest Lupins complement well with the irises, and they never complained about the lack of water. So perhaps your Baptisias will behave similarly well, at least, they're from the same family, I suppose.

 

If I posted pictures of the plants around the pond, you wouldn't believe the devastation that would be shown from the frosts, Agatha. So, I'm not sure what to do. Go a different route with different types of plants to what had been planted or as some people have suggested, buy new ones of the same and replant them, knowing, that on the law of averages, such a freeze probably won't come again for 30 years.

As regards a lawn, I'm delighted to have rid myself of the lawns. Mowing all that grass every week wastes hours of your life. I've noticed a couple of other people nearby, now getting rid of their lawns (or severely reducing them). I may have started a trend. :D (The first time I was ever at the forefront of fashion!)

There are two problems with trees around a pond. One is the leaves that all decide to drown themselves in the water in the autumn. I have a copper beech beside the pond that may eventually have to go because of this problem. Secondly, there can be a problem with roots bursting the concrete sidewalls of the pond. I may put in a couple of smaller growing trees, that I have waiting in the wings, instead; one from Chile, Azara Lanceolata and Arbutus Unedo, the Irish Strawberry Tree. Both of these have survived the frosts this winter in pots outdoors. I have a Loquat tree already planted and although the leaves are brown and dessicated, it appears to have survived.

I will let the pagoda evolve over time. It's going to take me another few months to finish it and I've no set plans as to what I'll plant in, around and near it yet. Yuccas and cacti have been suggested for inside in it but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

You are correct in that I'll use the stone walls as backdrops instead of obscuring them. The ferns at the bases will hopefully accentuate the red colour of the sandstone.

 

Thank you very much for a very comprehensive reply.

I'm going to have to take some time and study what you have suggested.

My soil is (you won't believe this!) mostly sub-soil with some old horse manure mixed into it. Everything seems to grow, though. I don't think you can stop plants from growing: a neighbour said , jokingly, that if I kicked a plant onto the garden, it would take root and grow. I think they were joking! :D :D :D

 

Hi, KindredSpirit! Believe it or not, I heard the same from a garden centre specialist!

 

I'd believe every pixel, because my garden is in a similar state. Imagine, false laurels, evergreen Berberises, Pyracanthas all burnt and brown, severe frost damages on Japanese Umbrella Pine, some of the most winter hardy cedars dead, and so are the Cercises' buds. I wonder if the 4 yards tall tree survived it at all. Chocolate Albizia, pampas grass, Gunnera dead, and Buddleias and Hydrangeas seem to have died back to the ground at the least...

Well, it's hard to decide. To play safely or risk it all depends on what you'd like to see in your garden, what style you want your plants to reflect. If you go for cold continental, you won't have any winter damages, but you'd have to plant very carefully to have the same amount of lush foliage as you had before. Or you prepare for winter every year by heavy mulching, wrapping up cordylines and topping the marginally hardy plants with cardboard boxes, with a lot of leaf mulch beneath.

You live in a very appreciative neighbourhood then. Every time somebody sees the ponds in the back of my garden, they go Wooo and Aaah, but when I suggest they can have the same in their garden if they part with some of the lawn, they always start backing away that it'd be hard to maintain, or that the kids would drown in them.

Luckily, some of my clients did opt for the water, we'll see how it'll work for them.

Why don't you cover it with a large net? One of my friends' pond is a woodland pond, she puts the net on in October and removes it when the trees are bare and if it's black, it doesn't ruin the looks of the water either. It'd be such a pity to lose a copper beech because of autumn's winds that sprinkles the water with leaves...

And, here's a different approach to a pond: the large one hasn't been cleaned for the five years they exist, the small one had to be refilled only once, because of one single koi carp ruining all its interior. And it looks so natural, waterlilies and marginal plants grow like crazy.

I have to add that I wouldn't dare be so careless with a small pond, but yours is large enough for copying Nature with it, I think...

Both of them sound fascinating, if the fruits of Arbutus won't fall directly into the water. :D Unfortunately neither of them would survive the winters here... I only want to point out the proportions: for a large pond a larger scale of trees look more in place, and for a small pond, small trees would fulfil the 'small is beautiful' proverb.

And may I ask why you used concrete instead of a flexible gum-based pond liner? The latter are less messy, tolerate the temperature changes far better than concrete and fixing them is a lot more easier.

 

Is there a cold continental type of plant that resembles phormiums?

Eek! That'd be a large net. 30 metres long by a max of 10 metres wide.

That's exactly what I intend to do. No emptying of the pond and also making sure that its eco system is balanced and replicates nature.

Because the local guy that I got to construct the pond only had experience of concrete. To complete the concrete pond correctly, I should have painted G4 on it but the price was prohibitive and I couldn't afford it. So I've taken a chance with bare concrete. Time will tell if I've been lucky, although I've a nagging feeling that a crack will appear somewhere eventually. Eeek! What will I do then? :(

I told you that you could write a book....... with expressions like that.

 

Your best option for a substitute is yellow striped yuccas, but they look a lot more spiky and don't have the graceful habit of Phormiums. Or you can plant grasses either that have white or yellow variegation like Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' or 'Variegatus'. Leymus arenarius is very good if you need silvery foliage. Or there are others that turn red or yellow in autumn, e.g. Eragrostis spectabilis, Miscanthus 'Ferner Osten' and Miscanthus sinensis 'Purpurascens', or go for annuals like Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' and Pennisetum glaucum 'Purple Majesty'.

They must and they definitely will. Concrete responds to change of temperature over time if it's not treated with a proper sealer. In some years' time frosts will do their job and you'll have to empty the pond and start it all over with a liner, I'm afraid. Let's hope I'm wrong in that, though. I shouldn't discourage you, but there were other pond maniacs whose experience showed this.

Umm, I think you overestimate my knowledge. It might be because of all the books I read in English back at college, they were by authors mostly from the turn of the 20th century... :wink:

Oh, yes, I nearly forgot: I'll put up a list of conifers with a little description for each in the trees section. Perhaps it might give you some ideas what to plant in your pinetum...

 

Got some Thalia Dealbata the other day. Don't know whether they'll grow as big as these though.



Picked up some Corkscrew Rush and Golden Club as well.

 

Probably they won't. They need a warmer climate or hot spring water and a natural pondside or a bog garden with rich, constantly wet soil to grow to more than a metre high and bloom on the top of 6 feet high stems, but you can always give it a try.

I'd keep them similarly to Pontederias, that is, below the freezing zone (mine is below 40 cms, where their rhizomes cannot freeze over, but naturally they'll have to struggle upwards and half the stems remain below water level so they look much smaller...

This is the one I saw in a garden centre where thanks to the hot spring water it never freezes and it's as near its natural habitat as it's possible (the Pontederias in the background are also quite a sight):

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