Planting the Pond
We put in the pond about three weeks ago and I filled it from one of our water butts. I ordered some pond plants and an aerator online and put them in soon after they arrived in the post.
Pond plants
I ordered a combination of native UK marginal plants with a couple of pretties I couldn’t resist! I was inspired by Arthur Parkinson’s container ponds as mentioned in my previous post.
In the first pic below you can see the labels for all the plants I bought: four marginal plants and a water lily. The UK natives are Kingcup Caltha palustris, Water Mint Mentha aquatica and Water Forget-me-not Myosotis scorpioides. The non-native marginal plant I chose for its velvety purple flowers was Iris louisiana ‘Black Gamecock’. I had to buy a tiny Water Lily due to the size of the pond, so went for the blousy pink Nymphaea ‘James Brydon’.
I bought pond plants which were mostly in one litre size aquatic pots, meaning all I had to do was put a bit of gravel on top and pop them in the water. The gravel I put on top stops the compost floating away!
The Water Lily had to go at the bottom of the pond, and the leaves will eventually level themselves with the water surface. The other plants, being marginal, like it a bit shallower, so I put them on the pre-formed shelf. I held them in place with a couple of bricks because they kept falling off.
I’m hoping it’s early enough in the growing season for all these to get going and settle in nicely before the hot weather!
Pond aerators
It’s important to aerate your pond, especially in the summer, to prevent it becoming stagnant or breeding mosquitoes. You can use natural pond plants for this – I bought the UK native Hornwort Ceratophyllum demersum which is an oxygenating species which grows submerged in the water. I bought a couple of plants of this which were weighted to stop them floating to the surface. You can see what Hornwort looks like in the last pic of the three below.
I think that small ponds are more vulnerable to problems so I also bought a solar-powered oxygenator. I got it from an auction site for £13 – see first pic below. The little stone makes the water bubble and is supplied via a tube. I’ve heard that Water Lilies don’t like too much water disturbance but will tolerate some bubbles, so fingers crossed!
Here’s a four second video of it in action:
Pond edge
I’m very conscious that the pond currently looks very unnatural. The plastic edges are visible all the way round. If you look at the topmost pic on this page, you’ll see that I found some rounded pebbles for one end of the pool, to disguise the edge a little.
When Mike and Rowan dug the hole I had to move some hardy Geraniums, so I’ve replanted these as close to the edge as I can get them. And I’ve also sowed seeds of UK native Wood Forget-me-not Myosotis sylvatica nearby. Anyone that knows me will know I love a Forget-me-not and will grow them at the drop of a hat! My business daisyshopUK sells pressed flowers among other things, most of which are grown in my garden. So these flowers may end up pretty, wildlife-friendly and useful too 🙂
So now I’m just going to wait and see what happens!
For a pic of Caltha palustris in flower, see my post about wildflowers along the river Test.
For pics of Mentha aquatica and Myosotis scorpioides in flower, see my post about wildflowers along the river Thames.