are they able to get established in the winter? i am not really worried about cycling yet since it will be a few months before fish are introduced to the pond.
Posted on mobile.aquariacentral.com
Posted on mobile.aquariacentral.com
Emily's Pond Build Log
- Thread starter rainbowcharmer
- Start date
long before the first shoot of a bulb breaks the surface, the root system has awakened and is spreading out into its planting medium. if you wait until spring to do your planting, you interrupt this process by transplanting the living root system and set it back while it has to spend the limited amount of stored food in the tuber (root, corm, bulb, whatever is appropriate to the species -- botanists need not correct me) recovering fro shock and regrowing the roots that were damaged during the transplant.
the plant will be bigger and healthier if it doesn't have to waste this energy but gets a running start on the new season.
the more traditional large-flowering bog garden plants are irises, calla lilies, and if you can stand their height butterfly gingers and a few of the canna lilies. all of these grow from tubers (again, no botanists need comment), and all would do better if they spent the winter snuggling into their new homes.
the plant will be bigger and healthier if it doesn't have to waste this energy but gets a running start on the new season.
the more traditional large-flowering bog garden plants are irises, calla lilies, and if you can stand their height butterfly gingers and a few of the canna lilies. all of these grow from tubers (again, no botanists need comment), and all would do better if they spent the winter snuggling into their new homes.
as far as other plants:
water lilies are very attractive, although you should research which ones do best in your climate. "hardy" vs "tropical" is probably not precise enough. you should have local pond clubs who could help there, and the county Ag folks would be helpful too.
i don't know about the grassy plants (cattails, papyruses, rushes, umbrella ferns and horsetails), but i'm hoping those aren't on your list anyway, since they'll do their very best to take over the pond.
taroes are fairly common, but i believe that some parts of them are poisonous to fish that try to eat them.
water lilies are very attractive, although you should research which ones do best in your climate. "hardy" vs "tropical" is probably not precise enough. you should have local pond clubs who could help there, and the county Ag folks would be helpful too.
i don't know about the grassy plants (cattails, papyruses, rushes, umbrella ferns and horsetails), but i'm hoping those aren't on your list anyway, since they'll do their very best to take over the pond.
taroes are fairly common, but i believe that some parts of them are poisonous to fish that try to eat them.
Well the filter and trench plans are on hold until the pond unfreezes and until I feel better. Came home with strep from my trip to visit family (probably from one of my little cousins), and that turned into an insane sinus infection/ear infection, which has me feeling like hell warmed over. Maybe not even that good. Anyhow, once I kick this thing (on antibiotics and all that stuff), hopefully we can move to the next stage of the plan here. In the meantime I'm going to keep hoping that my head doesn't explode each time I sneeze (which is every 5 minutes at best), and hope my nose doesn't fall off from being wiped so much. Man I hurt.
Sorry for your illness, hopefully this too shall pass. Have enjoyed the thread and plan on continuing to monitor your progress. Thanks for sharing, good luck and better health soon.
Thanks guys. Still no improvement. I think it's developed into bronchitis. Hopefully not headed towards pneumonia or anything like that. One more day on the Z-pack antibiotics, and I still feel like crap. Coughing up all sorts of gross stuff, and still sneezing my head off. Sore throat (on fire from all the coughing), and all that still going on. Good thing it's a 3 day weekend. Originally had planned to do more work on the pond, but have spent today sleeping thus far, and intend on doing that the next two days. Hopefully that will help me kick whatever this is. Yuck yuck yuck!!!
I'm finally starting to feel human again. A whole week of this stuff and I'm not back to normal. Yuck!!
Anyhow, if all goes well and I'm better by this weekend, I will probably work on the trench and hopefully get the filter running as well.
Another question - anyone have thoughts on what to use for 'hiding places' in the pond? I'm assuming things like a 5 gallon bucket laid sideways, etc. What about driftwood? Is this a realistic option in a pond? Or too much danger of puncturing the liner with that? Any other suggestions for hiding spots for the fish?
Thanks.
Anyhow, if all goes well and I'm better by this weekend, I will probably work on the trench and hopefully get the filter running as well.
Another question - anyone have thoughts on what to use for 'hiding places' in the pond? I'm assuming things like a 5 gallon bucket laid sideways, etc. What about driftwood? Is this a realistic option in a pond? Or too much danger of puncturing the liner with that? Any other suggestions for hiding spots for the fish?
Thanks.
You can try going to the plumbing supply houses and getting some clay or cast iron pipe pieces.
i assume you want places for the fish to hide from outside predators?
how about lengths of black PVC pipe much bigger in diameter than you think your fish will get
or a couple of black plastic file holders / milk crates put side by side (tied with zip ties) and with opposite ends cut open to make a sort of 2-ended cave. you can put a planter on top of it
how about lengths of black PVC pipe much bigger in diameter than you think your fish will get
or a couple of black plastic file holders / milk crates put side by side (tied with zip ties) and with opposite ends cut open to make a sort of 2-ended cave. you can put a planter on top of it
