Author Topic: This springs projects and plans/ plants your looking for... cant wait to see... (Read 4673 times)

tinkster · « **on:** February 09, 2007, 08:35:04 PM »

Kind of be fun to know what everyone is planning for their ponds/gardens this year.. getting antsy here wanting to get started and to see everyones ponds and flowers again.

My projects this summer are to try to get a very good start on the grounds covers on each side of the banks from the top of my waterfall down. I also took out the big circular firepit that was way to close to my ponds to start with, since the flagstone path circled around it, I am going to make that into a raisied circular flower bed. Last fall I planted evergreens/hollies on my horrid chain link fence and am anxious to start filling in under those and bring it all down the hill.

I am looking to add blue spruce sedum ground cover, minature crape myrtles ( pokemon??), varigated yuccas, and I want to choose alot of interesting folliage plants to keep it from looking so much like one big green blob like it did last year and last I hope to finish the rock garden, painting the rocks, redoing a few and picking out arrid loving, bank dwelling flowers/grasses which must be invasive

to plant around them.

anybody else have plans???

tranquility · « **Reply #1 on:** February 10, 2007, 11:31:59 AM »

Wow sounds like you will be as busy as me this spring/summer....We are putting in a 5,000 gallon pond and a 600 gallon wakin tank (the wakin pond was just to inviting for snakes-out of 10 wakin adults we ended the season with only 5

)......which will bring us up to 5 ponds ranging from 150 gallons to 5,000 gallons

......building another sale tank.....laying flag stone pathways.....a few new flower beds.....3 trellises...at least one new large canna bed maybe 2 and also going to be planting a hibiscus hedge to hide the undesirable back yard

.....once I get all that done...I'm sure I'll have another list to start on

.....
Lawanna

Marilyn C · « **Reply #2 on:** February 10, 2007, 03:01:23 PM »

My goal is to clean all of my lily tanks and re-pot all of my lilies. Also hope to clean out the mud pond and put some lilies in there. One more is to plant my concret troughs. I have two "new" ones. They're new to me, but from old farms around the area. I have four of them now...I guess that makes a collection.

Jerry · « **Reply #3 on:** February 10, 2007, 03:58:03 PM »

I have 2 goals, one is to simplify the pond planting. "keep it simple!"
the other is to redo my canopy. I hope to acquire 3, 20 foot galvanized arches that are used in commercial grreenhous construction. That will give me a high "ceiling" and a less closed in look. At least that is my hope.
And of course nurse my frost bitten tropical plants back to their former glory :'( :'( :'( :'(

tinkster · « **Reply #4 on:** February 10, 2007, 06:16:41 PM »

sounds like a few of us will be very busy! Jerry I sure hope they all bounce back. Here we just know what is gonna die and what is gonnna come back for most part. Has to be hard to have years of plants and risk losing them.

Lawanna.... I have some more paths I am going to make with my left over flagstone.. probalby wont get to it this year but I found a article I believe that was posted on Koiphen. I am very tempted to try her way. On mine I dug it out, tons of sand, leveled and laid the flagstone then filled in with river gravel. She used the tip of a landscape contractor from a resort she was at.. but anyway she mowed her grass really short, laid the flagstone on top of it. then over the winter the flagstone killed the grass and as she walked on it it settled down level with the other grass. She just mowed over top of it. grass was already filled in the cracks.. looked very nice.. I am thinking about trying that but not sure I want grass where I am putting these walkways or not.

Tinkster

happyoutsidegirl · « **Reply #5 on:** February 10, 2007, 06:57:23 PM »

I need to rerock the big free fall at the top of the falls. I also have to do much more planting and rocking on the banks of two sides of my pond. I have evergreens and verigated stuff, some creeping jenny and phlox but want to add more color. I need to clean out all of my frount beds as they have been totaly egnored since I got the pond in. (2summers now) I also need to finish rocking the inside of the pond. Since every rock from large to small pebbels I have halled in myself. I pick up rocks everwhere. From across the state to across the barn yard. Dh gets a bit paterbed with me like when we are huntting, I collect so many rocks I worry if there will be room to hook up the 5th wheel and load the deer in the truck. I'm also working on getting more pond plants. I don't have near enough in there for the size of it. I have on hugh lilly that will need devided this spring. The list goes on but that's a good start. I also plan on doing some ridding this year. I got so carried away with the pond I'm afraid my horse thought I was dead.

SheilaJ · « **Reply #6 on:** February 10, 2007, 07:13:45 PM »

Have an empty bed about 8.5 x 22 feet that used to be a veggie garden, then a hibiscus bed with a 100 gallon stock tank for tropical lilies in the middle. Still trying to plan a much bigger, raised pond in there for the tropicals and a landscaping plan around it. Need to redo the front foundation planting if I get up the strength to tackle the 13 year old Japanese hollies!! Need to clean out and decorate the grow room and maybe upgrade the growlights if I win the lottery.

PondmaninAL · « **Reply #7 on:** February 11, 2007, 06:07:23 PM »

My main plans for this Spring is to get all my troughs, old and new, set up on the back side of the house. Here is how the troughs and stock tank will be set up. The grey area at the bottom is the house. There are shallow troughs that are not in the image that I will include later.

Happy ponding,
Scott

Joyce · « **Reply #8 on:** February 12, 2007, 05:38:29 AM »

Basically I am not doing much with the ponds.
Going to be thinning out the lotus pond at work, but that is it.

Here at home, the pondsai will remain unchanged, with perhaps a few miniature and dwarf perennials added like a few hostas and grasses. And of course, I always add more moss.

The moss edges of the waterfall will need to be redone, since frost heaves have pulled them loose.

Will be working on filling in those new garden beds Bill created for me last year using the sod cutter. Planting everything on center for mature size, so I need to be patient, looking at plants that look so far apart! $:-\$

There is a chance that a small pond will be dug for a couple miniature lilies, right off the South West edge of the patio. But I am talking tiny, 4 x 6 oblong, something like that. Will be checking out the yardsales soon looking for a preform.

karen J · « **Reply #9 on:** February 12, 2007, 07:26:25 AM »

I only got about half my water lilies repotted last year, so this year I'll do the rest.

Most of my gardening this year will be repairing the "damage" (mostly just "mess") done by the contractors who re-sided our house. Hopefully, I'll get all my Hostas moved before they dig the trenches for the new front porch concrete. I think they may have damaged my pond edging a little because of the compressors they put by the pond. They were borrowing my pond circuit, not really paying any attention to where they walked or placed their equipment.

Definitely want more conifers!

Esther · « **Reply #10 on:** February 12, 2007, 07:43:41 AM »

Lily maintenance, and redo the DIY skimmer. I was given a fiberglass laundry tub that has a crack in the side. So will replace the Rubbermaid tub with the laundry tub.

I guess I'm not a planner. Things just seem to pop into my mind all of a sudden and bang

I'm in the middle of it.

Ky Kim · « **Reply #11 on:** February 12, 2007, 09:19:34 AM »

My plan for this spring is to finish my waterfall, before I plant my Bananas, Canna's and Elephant ears. Last year the plants got to big for me, by the time I got to the other side of the falls and I couldn't work on it anymore.

Gonna re-locate my puddle in the front yard. Seems like crab grass takes over everything I plant around out there. Despite my spraying for the stuff. Gonna move it up closer to my house and make it semi raised, also my Uncle gave me another preform (i'm not a fan of them but, hey it hold water). I think this is gonna look good. Can't wait to get started.

Kim

Vickie · « **Reply #12 on:** February 12, 2007, 08:53:21 PM »

We are going to build water garden number 10. I have koi that are getting bigger. This will be another 800 gallon cow tank. Here is one of my other ones.

CT · « **Reply #13 on:** February 13, 2007, 03:30:32 AM »

Vickie, that's beautiful. I love the landscaping too.

Marilyn C · « **Reply #14 on:** February 13, 2007, 06:57:05 AM »

Vickie, that is beautiful. Is that one of the vinyl or metal troughs?

This is one of my "new" old concrete troughs. Haven't got it planted or planted around yet. That is Dave, my chicken,
(who turned out to be a hen.

) standing by. There is a red shrub rose behind it and I am going to put Perry's Baby Red in it.

patsy · « **Reply #15 on:** February 13, 2007, 01:11:25 PM »

Well, first of course, is to get the ice off my ponds and - hopefully - find that my fish survived the winter okay. They have both a heater and air bubbler this year so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Before, they only had air and the survival rate wasn't all that great. Of couse I also have to pull out the hardy lilies, clean them up and feed them. Uncover the Lotus so they can see the daylight. Clean out and replace the media in the skippy.

Then my next priority will be to change my current bog area into a bog for carnivorous plants. I have done a great deal of research and have ordered plants that are hardy in my zone 4/5 area. There will also be some that are not hardy here, I will have to put them in their own individual pots so I can bring them in for the winter the same as I do my tropical lilies.

Then I will start on the landscaping around the perifery of the big pond. Have most of the plants for that already. Will only need to transplant them.

I would also like to look into setting up a trough for growing the tropical lilies. I am currently using 1/2 whisky barrel tubs and would like to have more room for the foliage to spread as they seem pretty cramped in the tubs. A local masonry shop has some large black plastic cement mixing troughs that are probably 4x8x1', I still need to check on the size. Hopefully, I'll to be able to use one of them! Is there anyone else out there that has used them? If so, I would appreciate any thoughts you have about them.

If I'm lucky, all that work will get rid of a few pounds of blubber that I managed to
accumulate over the winter!

Then............? Maybe, just enjoy?

Happy Spring.......Patsy

SheilaJ · « **Reply #16 on:** February 13, 2007, 03:48:12 PM »

OOH, sounds like a great idea for my next tropical lily pond. How much does one of those mixing troughs cost?

GAJen · « **Reply #17 on:** February 13, 2007, 05:37:29 PM »

Nothing but routine maintenance, re-potting some lily's and looking for a pretty blue one.

El Jefe · « **Reply #18 on:** February 14, 2007, 07:23:52 AM »

I think I am going to Start over... NOT. I am going to build up the berm and get some more Rock in there! Lots of manuevering and repalnting on the Terestrial side.. Andy

SheilaJ · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2007, 07:33:11 AM »

Oh yeah, repotting the lilies. Dang. I knew there was an ugly job waiting me out there!

GAJen, I should have an extra blue tropical you can have for postage when it's warm enough to mail out. PM me if you're interested.

GAJen · « **Reply #20 on:** February 14, 2007, 09:15:11 AM »

Sheila I sent you a pm.

patsy · « **Reply #21 on:** February 14, 2007, 10:54:11 AM »

SheilaJ,
I just called to find out about the plastic cement troughs and I guess my judgement on size was quite a bit off. The man said they are 61"x40"x12", they hold 11.7 cubic feet and are a lot more spendy than I had figured on. They are asking $104.00 each. Humm think I will shop around more.....

Patsy

SheilaJ · « **Reply #22 on:** February 14, 2007, 06:58:43 PM »

patsy, thanks. Too small and too pricey for what I want. What I REALLY want is a galvanized 8 foot diameter round stock tank, but only 12" deep instead of 24". Local farm supply place doesn't carry it and doesn't seem very interested in finding me one.

Pondpuppy · « **Reply #23 on:** February 15, 2007, 03:32:51 PM »

What a great idea, we have one of those large pre-formed home depot fish ponds, which we have never used. Wouldn't that work as a lilly pond? I have a sunny spot where it would be really beautiful?

Carol

happyoutsidegirl · « **Reply #24 on:** February 15, 2007, 03:43:49 PM »

I have my old small preformed still and I was planning to make it into a veggie filter. It's only 60 to 90 gals. and 18" deep so I worry about what do ya do in our cold winters with all the plants in it? Any insite on that?

Vickie · « **Reply #25 on:** February 15, 2007, 07:23:04 PM »

Marilyn it is metal cow tank. And Sheila it was free. The whole pond was free. A friend gave me an old rusted cow tank 8 ft across. She said if I would take it off her hands she would give me the liner free. And I scrounged the brick for free too. It is one of my favorite ponds. She has gave me the second cow tank 8 ft. It is waiting for spring. And this time I will buy the liner from her for $100. They are 24 inches deep.

Vickie · « **Reply #26 on:** February 15, 2007, 07:29:09 PM »

Happy we use a plastic pond it might only be 35 gallons. It is now used at that round pond I just showed. We put water canna, lady of the nile,water hyicents,water iris,and water celery in it. I also run a pump with filter box and another pump for air. I have 5 koi about 15 inches and 2 or three goldfish. They are healthy and happy in it. All the filters are the reason.

Vickie · « **Reply #27 on:** February 15, 2007, 07:31:48 PM »

Marilyn I like your concrete troughs. I use anything that holds water.

happyoutsidegirl · « **Reply #28 on:** February 16, 2007, 04:36:33 AM »

Vickie, I'm not sure whare you live but don't I have to worry about it freezing solid? Or do you keep the pumps runnig? I want to incorparate it so it is returning to the pond and would probably need to shut it down in the late fall?

Vickie · « **Reply #29 on:** February 16, 2007, 06:51:04 AM »

Happy I had veggie filter running until about 2 weeks ago and it got to cold. If you drain the water out it will be okay.