Siting a pond on a sloping garden

Eight weeks in, and the pond is settling down nicely! (Still have the hooligan rooks, but hey?!)


One of the marginal plants is just coming into flower....(need to get my label box to find out what it is!)


Both lilies are doing well. The far one is a "cutting" from my barrel pond lily, a mid-pink, it is sited at about 80cm deep. There will be a flower in about 2 weeks time, I think... You can just make out the gravel and hessian in its basket.
The nearer lily is a white, and is at about 50-60cm deep. I will lower it to be alongside the other one at the end of the season...


I had some spare geranium sanguinium plants, so tucked them under the moss turfs around the edge of the pond. They have in the main taken to their new home well!
@ARMANDII , this is probably the only place where there is grass growing in the surrounding "turf". I can cope with trimming this little patch by hand!
The solar light isn't as prominent as this photo suggests. It's actually below the level of the pond edge, and just gives a little subtle light in the corner, at dusk.


The view from the drive. You can see how the moss has died off in the droughts, and how the sandy soil is exposed, because there isn't enough goodness for grass to grow.


A closer view, showing the geraniums, black mondo grass in the "waterfall", and faint blue specks of ?meadow scabious - the only thing that grows in the "grass"!


I hope the moss settles and binds together this autumn.


The view across the valley that you are rewarded with, if you walk to the top of the garden to peer into the pond!

 

Looks good @Sian in Belgium ! I think the moss will recover when wet weather sets in.

I can see some buds on the lilies.

 

It looks fantastic Sian great work, my lily has its first flower on its way up .

 

I like the fact that @Sian in Belgium, @martin-f and I have all recently made ponds and they are all different but we are learning from each other.

 

So true, @Redwing !

It just proves that there is more than one way to do it, and also that big pond, little pond, the important thing is POND!!

For years hubby has commented that I can't sit and enjoy the garden, but have to be doing something. He is loving the fact that he often comes outside, to find me sitting next to the pond, totally mesmerised by the activity....

 

Yes that's what it all about learning from each other, there is no right/wrong way just get on with it as we have done,

My ponds teaming with wildlife now its warmed up i love it even my wife has taken interest ,

I will hopefully get the waterfall started and finished on mine next week i need to loan a cement mixer from a pal first.

 

I hope to see it flower next week .

 

I have Pond Skaters in mine now. The snails have been very busy breeding too.

Well done @Sian in Belgium you should be so proud of what you've achieved in such a short space of time

 

@Sian in Belgium, your pond looks terrific where you have sited it. It looks as if it has been there for years, and I can imagine how fascinating it is to watch the wildlife. Lovely job you have made of it.

@luciusmaximus, do you have any recent photos of your pond? I would love to see how it is getting on. Due to a significant health issue this year which has curtailed my garden activities I haven't been able to do as much as I have wanted to with my barrel pond, however it has a couple of oxygenating plants - mare's tail and hottonia - and the water is staying clear. It is teeming with what looks like gnat larvae though so I will have to decide how to deal with that. Didn't want to get fish, but not sure I want a pump to move the water either.

 

@Irmemac sorry to hear you've been under the weather, hope you are fully recovered?

Here is latest pic of pond. I'm going to be doing a bit of restructuring around the outside soon, removing the gravel and a few others things.

 

Your pond looks like such a haven for wildlife, @luciusmaximus. Lots of cover and easy access for creatures. It won't be long until they are flocking to it. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the restructuring - you have got a good eye for it.

Thanks for your good wishes, I hope I am recovered now, although I think I still have a few more weeks before my stamina returns. I am not used to feeling like I just can't be bothered all the time, even with thinking!

Great ponds . I will do a few more things before I dare to show a photo!

 

This morning we had a new visitor - a greater water boatman (or backswimmer, as they are now being referred to).



The view across the pond...

We plan to put a bench-seat about where I took this photo from...

This autumn, I plan to "fill in" the ground/grass between the bed and the pond with various cover interesting plants, whilst allowing for access to the seating there.
Ideas on a postcard, please!
The site is exposed, v poor soil (pretty much pure sand), southwest facing, and as dry as a bone in the summer - which is why I will leave the planting until autumn!!

 

Looking fantastic Sian ,

Ive made one today .

 

Ok, I need some waterlilly advice, folks!
I appear to have two nymphaea albida alba lilies. (Planting instructions for the lily say 50-120cm)
One is at least a 2 year-old plant, and is planted in a v large basket sitting on the bottom of the pond, so around 80-85 cm deep. It has had around 6-8 leaves, quite large, for most of the summer, and two flowers.
The second lily is new this year. It is planted in a large basket, sitting on a shelf around 50cm down. It has around 8-12 leaves, but not quite so sizeable, for most of the summer, and also two flowers (third bud currently coming up through the water).

Both lilies were planted "from scratch" within days of each other.
The deeper lily was planted deep, because it had already been growing at around 60cm deep for a year, and I thought could take going straight in at full depth.

My question is -
Do I put the second lily in the deep water as well, or keep it on the slightly higher shelf? I did try lowering it in earlier today, when I was doing some basket-juggling. (I have been given some plants from a friend's well-established wildlife pond - some huge, and rather scarey, dragonfly nymph in evidence!) Most of the leaves were then submerged, but only by a couple of inches.
In the longer term, is it better to have them both in the deep area side-by-side (area is around 50cm in diameter, or to have them at different levels?

Thanks in advance!

 

Only advice i can give you about lily's if you see a snail on the flower take it off, its had hold of mine and its not opened since its damaged a petal and its sinking .