What does your landscaping around your pond look like?

[saugeye tom]

 

[Abby]

good morning!

 

[GBBUDD]

Every time you post an overall pic . I keep expertly to see a Egyptian caravan in the back ground. slaves fanning some fat dude while being carried eating grapes. And some barely dressed women out front throwing rose pedals on the ground.

 

[GBBUDD]

It would be way too funny if you changed your name here to clepatra or mayPharoah

 

[GBBUDD]

Your pond and landscaping is beautiful! I am changing the stream to my my own pond and have a question about your stream. Do you find the rocks on the bottom collects too much muck? Does it cause problems with your fish? Thank you for your help. I JUST VACUUMED UP THE GRAVEL AREAS IN THE POND AND THEY WERE DEFINATELY LOADED UP, AM I HAVING A PROBLEM , NO NOT WITH THE MAJORITY OF THE FISH I HAD TWO FISH THAT IN THE SPRING HAD SOME ISSUES. . I FED THEM MEDICATED FOOD WITH OXOLINIC ACID AND THAT SEEMED TO KEEP EVERYONE HEALTHY IN THE POND. BU THE TWO WERE PULLED OUT TO A HOSPITAL TANK. i DID REDUE THE BOG AT THIS TIME AS WELL SO THE FILTER START UP WAS DELAYED AN EXTRA MONTH OR TWO.

Thank you for the comment. The rocks in the stream cause no issues for the fish, actually the opposite. Once installed and lined with rocks and gravel, a stream becomes a filter for your pond. The rock and gravel will capture suspended solid waste that is in the water and this will help keep the water cleaner. The amount of filtering work a stream does for a pond depends on how much water the stream carries. I also have a mechanical filter pad in the skimmer and in the waterfall filter also, this catches some of the waste before it enters the stream. I throw watercress and Water Hyacinth in the stream also with the edge plantings of forget me knots, mint etc all keep with taking out some nutrients. In the fall I will move the gravel around making pockets down to the liner and will vacuum out some of the muck before I shut down for the winter. So far this has worked great and I never lost a fish due to health issues or winter issues. I have lost fish to predation.

I should mention my stream is not very deep, it goes from 2" to maybe 6" at the most. I have approximately 6500 gph flowing thru the stream which helps move debris from the trees into the pond which then goes to the skimmer.

Best of luck with the stream install, it will be a truly added benefit.

 

[YShahar]

Since I'm slowly getting all the construction debris from the pond cleared away, I thought I'd take some photos of how the garden looks in late afternoon. Still a lot of bits and pieces lying around, but getting there!

Here is the view from the garden entrance as one either comes down the (very old and rickety) stairs from the front yard or from the little patio near the kitchen:

All the drip hoses will eventually be covered over by monkey grass, but the stuff grows so slowly (and is so expensive to buy) that it's going to take a while. The fountain is just a plastic urn with one of those plastic pot saucers on top of it. I drilled a hole in the saucer that exactly fits a bit of old PVC pipe I had lying around, put a plastic reservoir with a lid on it below and installed a pump. It looks especially cool with the sun on the little spout of water. Or at night, with a solar spotlight on it:

And here's how the pond is looking these days from the patio where I spend most of my time:

There's still plenty of work to be done, including finishing up the edges on the near side, laying down landscape fabric for paths, finishing up the stream, and washing and sorting about 1.5 tonnes of gravel to go in the pond. But so far, the cats are enjoying the view!

 

[SarahT]

Since I'm slowly getting all the construction debris from the pond cleared away, I thought I'd take some photos of how the garden looks in late afternoon. Still a lot of bits and pieces lying around, but getting there!

Here is the view from the garden entrance as one either comes down the (very old and rickety) stairs from the front yard or from the little patio near the kitchen:

View attachment 153422


All the drip houses will eventually be covered over by monkey grass, but the stuff grows so slowly (and is so expensive to buy) that's going to take a while. The fountain is just a plastic urn with one of those plastic pot saucers on top of it. I drilled a hole in the saucer that exactly fits a bit of old PVC pipe I had lying around, put a plastic reservoir with a lid on it below and installed a pump. It looks especially cool with the sun on the little spout of water. Or at night, with a solar spotlight on it:

Absolutely gorgeous.
What species is your monkey grass? Here, the term is used for 2 different species. One, "Ophiopogon japonicus", or mondo grass, is slow growing. But the other is faster growing and less expensive: Liriope muscari. Just in case that's helpful, available, and all that.
Keep the pictures coming.

 

[YShahar]

Absolutely gorgeous.
What species is your monkey grass? Here, the term is used for 2 different species. One, "Ophiopogon japonicus", or mondo grass, is slow growing. But the other is faster growing and less expensive: Liriope muscari. Just in case that's helpful, available, and all that.
Keep the pictures coming.

I've got some of the Ophiogon Japonicus, which is my favorite. But yeah it grows very, very slowly. It's also hard to find locally and rather expensive. I planted some dwarf Liriope some years back, which you can see on the opposite side of the intake bay. That has gown really well, so much so that I was able to divide it last year. Once the fallow year is over, I'll be dividing it further and spreading it all along the "south bank" of the intake bay. I've also got some of the full size Liriope all over the place. That was slow to establish but really took off once it found its niche!

 

[GBBUDD]

i am planning on a mass planting with these . i'm torn between the varigated or just the deep green leaves

 

[GBBUDD]

@poconojoe this could be a plant for you and your wooded area take a look here https://www.target.com/p/liriope-39...id=2c49657beb6c107fb6650787d04414b9&gclsrc=ds

Dwarf Mondo Grass 500 Bare Root Ophinopogon Border Grass Liriope monkey Nana | eBay

Dwarf Mondo Grass 500 Bare Root Ophinopogon Japonicus nanus. These are excellent to use as turf. Spacing them 2-4 " apart. They can be clumped together for stand alone placings in garden beds. You can use them to fill in between pavers for a clean architectural look in your garden.

www.ebay.com

 

[YShahar]

i am planning on a mass planting with these . i'm torn between the varigated or just the deep green leaves

If you're planning on Ophiogon, I would recommend going with the natural deep green leaves, as the variegated aren't nearly as vigorous. Where I am, I can't grow the variegated stuff at all, and the regular green takes quite some time to establish and fill in. I do have a patch I planted 20 years ago that looks really dense and beautiful, but it's a slow grower. But that might just be our alkaline soil and general dryness.

 

[YShahar]

@poconojoe this could be a plant for you and your wooded area take a look here https://www.target.com/p/liriope-39-big-blue-39-1pc-national-plant-network-u-s-d-a-hardiness-zones-5-10/-/A-52113734?ref=tgt_adv_XS000000&AFID=google_pla_df&fndsrc=tgtao&DFA=71700000012734001&CPNG=PLA_Patio+Garden+Shopping|Patio+Garden_Ecomm_Home&adgroup=SC_Patio+Garden_Plants&LID=700000001230728pgs&LNM=PRODUCT_GROUP&network=s&device=c&location=&targetid=pla-4584551178467605&ds_rl=1246978&ds_rl=1247068&msclkid=2c49657beb6c107fb6650787d04414b9&gclsrc=ds

Dwarf Mondo Grass 500 Bare Root Ophinopogon Border Grass Liriope monkey Nana | eBay

Dwarf Mondo Grass 500 Bare Root Ophinopogon Japonicus nanus. These are excellent to use as turf. Spacing them 2-4 " apart. They can be clumped together for stand alone placings in garden beds. You can use them to fill in between pavers for a clean architectural look in your garden.

www.ebay.com

The taller ground cover that you see in the first photo is Tradescantia zebrina, also grows really well in shade with very little water, but doesn't take foot traffic. I use stepping stones in that area, as walking on the stems can cause the whole clump to die back.

Ophiogon take some foot traffic, but can take many decades to get the same full look, unless you plant a huge number of plants all at once (and even then, it's a slow grower). Rather than the smaller ophiogon, you can go for a slightly larger relative, Liriope spicata (Lilyturf), which I've found spreads much more easily. For accents in shaded areas, I use the larger versions of Liriope, which are slow growing but spectacular.

 

[addy1]

Even if you think your pond is not done it is absolutely gorgeous! @YShahar

 

[YShahar]

Even if you think your pond is not done it is absolutely gorgeous! @YShahar

Thank you! I get really impatient sometimes to get it all done. In reality, I know that even after the stream and bog filter are all done, I'm still going to be working on it and changing things.

What's amazing is how much more enjoyment I'm getting out of being outdoors now. Just having moving water nearby does incredible things for the psyche! It's hard to force myself to go indoors at night now, as the sights and sounds are so enjoyable. And most of this it completely intangible; there's no way I would be able to explain to someone how much building a pond will enhance their outdoor experience.

 

[SarahT]

i am planning on a mass planting with these . i'm torn between the varigated or just the deep green leaves

I have found in both Chicago and Tampa that the variegated liriope wants more shade and is less drought tolerant. The green leafed liriope is much more tolerant of anything imperfect - sun, water, soil. I've not had great luck with mondo grass in either Chicago or Tampa.