Central Florida pond under construction

[gardengimp]

A flowering floating plant will look quite nice, I think. There are very few sources of pond plants in the Orlando area, so I'm hoping Pondtastic or someone else has some whenever I get a chance to drop by.
Speaking of which, what are the local sources my fellow Central Floridians use to obtain pond materials, especially plants? Hardware such as pumps are easiliy enough obtained online, but I like to pick out plants in person.
And does anyone have any experience with Melon Sword? There is a local naturalized source available to me.
shinksma

Wet ditches and neighborhood ponds and lakes?
I haven't found a good place for like water lilies and such flowering water plants. Bioshpere is where I hear most people go for wetlands plants. There is also a place in Christmas, and a newer place on 44 in Volusia; so I've also heard. You can find marginals around the native plant sales; both vendors and events. Lukas had a trough of water lilies one spring, but they were $$$.
I bring home local naturalized plants a lot. I just give them an extra good rinse and isolate them for a bit. I'm starting some seeds now, but they are mostly marginals. I do see a lot of ads on Craigslist, search for 'pond'.

 

[CountryEscape]

Shinksma, you should check out the Classifieds on this Forum, too. Come spring, when fellow ponders are splitting tubers and plants, they have lots to sell or some give them away just have to pay the postage. You might get some really good deals there, too. Good luck!

 

[sissy]

check out florida hill nursery online .They don't have pond plants but some of the plants they have can be grown in ponds .I got a few plants from them and so did my neighbor .Nice healthy plants with great instructions .Free shipping on some and when I got mine I paid shipping for the first one but the rest were free .

 

[gardengimp]

Lookee here, somebody I haven't heard of before: http://orlando.craigslist.org/for/3571614632.html

Water Lilies - $15 (Central Florida)174 Semoran Commerce Place Suite A101

We received our first Water Lilies and Marginals for the season! They
are being sold as bareroot, full grown plants, ready for immediate sale,
with multiple leaves and in many cases with flowers and/or buds. This
year we are also including Lotus plants as well! If you need them potted
we will do that for a additional charge along with Potted Plant
Fertilizer.

Listed here are some of the different types of Lilies in Stock.



Nymphaea Dauben Blue Tropical WaterLily, Nymphaea King of Siam Purple
Tropical Water Lily, Nymphaea MIami Rose Pink Tropical Water Lily,
Nymphaea Queen of Siam Tropical Water Lily, Nymphaea Sturtevantii Pink
Tropical Lily,etc.

Hardy Water Lilies, are the Comanche, Mangkal Ubol, Black Princess. Red Spider, Mayla, White Sultan, Texas Dawn etc,

Marginals, consist of Papyrus,Canna, Hibiscus Ferns,
Rush,Taro, Water Bamboo, Water Sprite, Parrot Featers, Sagiitaria,
Vallisneria, Echinodorus, Cryptocoryne, Anubias, etc

Come by and check us out: We are open 12-6 Monday- Friday and
Saturday 12-5 Phone number is 407-889-9887 We also handel Tropical
Fish along with Salt Water fish and Corals. If you are looking for small
turtles, they can make a nice additont to your pond or Aquarium. In
stock we have yellow bellies, Eastern, western, and Map turtles.



You Like Aquatic plants we do carry them and snails to keep down the
algae, or if you need a Algae eating Plecostomus we have them up to 15"

Koi's we also carry Butterflies, and regular's from 3" up to 14" starting at $9 and up.



Sea Life Aquarium Store

174 Semoran Commerce Place Suite A-101

Apopka, Fla. 32703

407-889-9887

Serving Central Florida for 33 years!

We will ship plants fish etc. within the U.S. if you live out of the
area. We accept VISA< MASTER CHARGE DEBIT CARDS

 

[shakaho]

I went to Sea Life a few days ago, very tiny place, friendly, but I don't know what water lilies were $15, because she didn't show me anything for less than $22.

 

[sissy]

Buy your own seeds for lilies and lotus on e-bay you can also google them and there are a few that sell them online .They grow fast and since you have year round growing season even better .Do you have a mexican or oriental grocer there ,they even sell them because the are eatable .My cousin got them from a grocery in NJ and sent me some .They were 3 dollars for a whole bag of them .About 30 seeds or so .Grew great and shared them with ponders around here .Actually tried them and they are good .lotus and lily seeds and she got me oriental ginger root and bamboo shoots .

 

[shinksma]

OK, a couple of pictures, finally.
First pic, morning of the second full day of digging, about a week ago, where I have the pond outline/shape dug out, but I have some rather thick root tangles to deal with.
Eventually got them out, and the second pic is from late-afternoon today, with the pond established and just periphery stuff to finalize. There are a handful of small goldfish in the murk. I need to get some finer filter material for the waterfall to trap more of that silt. I have a couple bunches of hornwort (with lead weight bands) thrown in free floating, and another bunch "planted" in kitty litter clay as an experiment in which does better...
That's a bog-garden on the right side full of plants already - pea gravel on bottom and top four inches, with some dirty sand ("Florida topsoil") in the middle layer, which is the source of my silt - hopefully that will settle down now that water is done sloshing around.
Some plants "rescued" from local ponds, most purchased. Would like a lotus, and a colorful waterlily - will see if Lukas has any in stock, although I am afraid they'll be priced too high. Although it's not like we haven't already blown past the original budget...
The rock is Catabwa river sliders (rounded flats), 2000 lb skid from Pebble Junction loaded in the back of our pick-up truck. There are 12"x12" patio stones underlaying them as a foundation, and a retaining wall on the far side of the pond from the camera point-of-view where it slopes down a foot or so. Also pea gravel and large river pebbles to mix in at ther transitions.
A bit more touch-up tomorrow, with a couple of plant purchases possible.
shinksma

 

[gardengimp]

Looking good!

It is still a bit early to find local flowering plants. A couple more months, you can find native lotus, lily, pickerel, and a floating plant some call banana lily.

You could make a floating impatien island. Mine is looking really nice right now, I will post pictures tomorrow.

 

[addy1]

Very nice.

 

[j.w]

Looks great and like how its raised up some so water can run off down hill.

 

[sissy]

darn rock envy again why do all the people on here have such pretty rocks in there area ,darn it .All i get is quartz that is sharp and unusable in a pond .

 

[gardengimp]

Hah Sissy! We have to BUY our rocks down here. With lots of green backs. Yeah, I've got rock envy from folks out west, big time . And Colleen and her lichen covered boulders. The only rock I've found in my yard here was when I hit a section of contractor fill and it had bits of old road in it, concrete and and asphalt, my very own salt and pepper mix.

 

[sissy]

I could make a counter top of mine but don't have the equipment . :razz:

 

[CountryEscape]

I agree, those in the west have all the free rock they want, all different colors, etc. Glad I got the load I did from my daughter in UT, when she drove home 2 years ago! I treasure each and every one of them. I can find some pretty rocks here, in south central IL, but when I drive and stop and only pick up 5 or 10 rocks, it takes quite a while to get a truck load. I'm seriously thinking of driving down to southern IL where I can likely get more than a truck full on a short weekend, but by the time I pay for a tank and a half of gas for my 3/4 ton truck, it's makes me wonder if it would be worth it. So ... I will try to find a land owner that has a creek running through it that I can drive down to start picking up rocks this summer. Hoping my "hay" neighbor will let me drive around his property to find some local rocks.
Your pond looks great, and bet you can't wait for the silt to settle down! Post more pics as it clears up. Your plants look wonderful. Good luck finding more flowering plantssoon.

 

[sissy]

florida people air plant question 15 for 20 dollars and free shipping on e bay is that a good deal