Garden Ponds

Water gardens, also called garden ponds, have become very popular in recent years. The term garden pond usually refers to a man-made garden pond. These garden ponds usually are a small pool that is decorated with aquatic plants and fish, snails, frogs, etc. Other items like decorative rocks, fountains, statuary, waterfalls and streams can be combined with the pool to create a beautiful habitat and quiet place for contemplation.

There are various ways thet one cancreate a garden pond. One way is to use a “wild river” or a fast moving large creek that runs through your property. If you are fortunate enough to have this natural feature on your property then a lot of the work is already done for you. You merely have to “tweek” it to suit your desires.

Firtst you choose a spot on the banks of a fast moving river or creek, and then you put rocks in the path of the water to make a small waterfall that you can have flowing into a basin area.

The regular flow of water depends on the river or creek you use. The water level will fluctuate on a daily basis. This means you will need to work with it every day to adjust the rock level. It is a lot like a Zen garden or a Japanese rock garden. If you fix the rocks just right, it will add much needed oxygen to the river and help stop hypoxia from happening. The more the bubbles you have, the more dissolved oxygen is being put in the river for fish, frogs, crayfish, etc. Oxygen helps improve the quality of the water.

You will also want to have some flora in your garden pond if you do not have a river or creek near by to create your garden pond with, but have to instead make one by artificial means. Basic water garden plants are divided into 3 types…submerged, marginal, and floating.

Submerged plants are that that live almost completely under the water, sometimes with leaves or flowers that grow to the surface…like the water lily. These plants are placed in your garden pond about 1-2 ft. below the water surface. Most of these plants are used to oxygenate the water for the fish and other creature that may live in a pond. Examples of submerged plants are the Water lily and the Parrot Feather.

Marginal plants are water plants that live with their roots under the water but the rest of the plant grows above the surface. These plants are situated so that the top of the planter pot is at or just barely below the water. Someof these are: Flag or Iris, Elephant Ear, the Lotus plant, and others.

Floating plants are plants that are free-floating on the surface of a pond. In garden ponds, these are often used to provide shade to keep down the growth of algae in a pond. Most of these type plants are often very fast growing.