Water Lily

Fishy65

Wasn't sure whether to put this in here or 'Plants'. Anyway,my Dad bless him bought us a water lily yesterday - Nymphaea 'Marliacea Chromatella'. A lovely yellow flower,though it does get to 1 metre plus in diameter. Our pond is about 2.5 metres by 1.5 so might have to trim some leaves next year if it threatens to overpower the other plants. At the moment its very small.

The other plants I have are oxygenator elodea crispa,scirpus cernuus 'fibre-optic grass' and caltha palustris 'marsh marigold' - all courtesy of our Lyn bless her.

Lyn

Who'a lucky boy then? Sounds lovely, i cant wait for all us newbys to ponds showing photo's when they become a bit established.

Fairygirl

Lyn  - that's Fishy laying down the gauntlet now with a water lily. We''l have  to 'up our game' I think 

What a lovely present Fishy. 

Philippa - do you think Fishy could keep it a bit smaller by simply having it in a smaller container for longer - like you could do with standard garden plants?

The marsh marigolds get quite big and spread around a bit but they're quite easy to keep in check. Lovely burst of colour in spring. We had tons at last house as the  bunnies didn't eat them. There were lots in the surrounding edges of the pond, so we just mowed them when we cut the grass!

Fishy65

Oh yes Fairygirl,I've set the bar pretty high now  My Dad bless him,he'll be 85 in a couple of weeks and insisted on buying something. I must admit I'm concerned the lily might get too big. Though I grew up with a pond in the garden where I used to live and seem to remember we just cut the pads back.

Lyn - I know which side my bread's buttered. Oh and I've got four tenants now....3 water boatman and a black water beetle 

Philippa -  what size pond do you have,if that's ok to ask?

Lyn

Fairygirl, do you keep the marsh marigold in a pot or does it free float?

I had a dead black beetle and 2 dead bees, does that count as wildlife?!!

However, I had the most beautiful really bright green dragonfly flitting around on the stones, please dont tell me they are the most common type 

Fishy65

Lyn - its possible your dragonfly was laying eggs. In which case your pond will have dragonfly larvae in it. They can be in your pond for a long time as nymphs, three or four years maybe before leaving the water to become an adult dragonfly.

The dead insects play an important role,they are food for micro-organisms and scavenging water insects 

Fairygirl

It's more of a pondside plant Lyn, but happy in quite wet conditions so ideal for boggy bits, and it will grow in shallows too. We had a rill connecting the ponds and it grew in there.

I get very sad when I see a dead bee 

Not sure if that's a common one Lyn. I think they're regional too - like birds and butterflies. We used to get loads of damsel flies and black and yellow dragonflies. We had a smaller pond near the big one, and we'd bought some young koi which we kept in there so we netted the pond. I had to help the emerging dragonflies out sometimes if they couldn't find the gaps in the net! 

Aren't they just the most beautiful creatures - even if the nymphs are rather horrible and vicious!

Lyn

Thank you both for info on the plant and dragonfly. I didnt know they took a long time like that, theres something to wait for, I have seen them on tv,come out and hang on the reeds then e

merge, beautiful.

Fairygirl

Good point philippa  Pond containers aren't solid like ordinary garden ones. I should have thought of that....

Right Fishy - you'll just have to make that pond bigger love! 

Taller, upright plants are needed for dragonflies for exactly that reason Lyn. A few flag iris or dwarf bullrushes will do the job. That pond I mentioned had been so neglected it didn't look like a pond was there. Once we cleared all the debris, there was only a clump of flag iris in it. We added a couple of things, but the dragonflies were using that fro their ladder quite happily  I had a clump of Equisetum in a previous pond which was great for them. Not invasive like it's relation - horsetail!

Fishy65

Actually ladies, I've been watching some US pond planting videos on youtube and they do use solid planters for lilies over there. Sometimes even washing up bowls,plus they seem to use ordinary garden soil and put fertiliser tablets into the soil. Maybe a culture thing?

Fairygirl - are you serious about making the pond bigger?  I've cut the liner now and everything. Though you can divide lilies like any other plant,maybe I'll do that and post the other half to someone on the forums.

Philippa - that's not a pond,its an olympic swimming pool!! 

Lyn - yes I think its quite sad that the rather unsightly dragonfly nymph lives for so long when the beautiful adult lives for just a few months. Mother nature must know what she's doing though 

 

Fairygirl

Fishy - that's Americans for you though...

I wasn't really being serious - I know you've just busted a gut digging that pond out! Perhaps letting it grow to a reasonable size and dividing would be the best way to go. Or maybe you could try a solid container with a few holes in the bottom and see how it works. Nothing to lose. 

Wish I'd brought the lily with me that I'd bought for the small pond at last house although it would have been too big   We didn't have any in the main pond but I'd have put some in had we stayed there. It had constant running water but it was a big area so they would have been fine. I'll need a pygmy one for this little pond I'm making here