pond landscaping imput.. help for next year....

[tinkster]

I am going to have to rethink all my landscaping up on the bank around the falls.  Something is just not right about it besides the fact the bank is almost straight up and down and I have watered and watered and watered and the plants just arent really thriving there for most part.. its just to steep to hold water for them.

In the first picture you can see off to the right of the waterfall the area I am most concerned about.  I tried to plant alot of perrineals there and am going to have to move them.  Just to dry and it looks more like a mess.. I love the look others here have achieved with the natural, branches, etc hanging over the fall but am clueless as to what to put in this hard to plant area.  Should I tier it off with a few layers of rock walls so I can level out behind it for easier planting?

Something is also wrong with the perspective I have.. the bank is very huge and the falls have two really dramatic drops but somehow the landscaping seems to take away from that?? do you plant tall in front.. tall in back.. any of you that do this for a living consider "online" consulting for a fee....


Any suggestions please! 

br>[img width= height=]http://tinkster.com/ebay/8-06pond6.jpg[/img][img width= height=]http://tinkster.com/ebay/baddirt1.jpg[/img]br>[img width= height=]http://tinkster.com/ebay/baddirt2.jpg[/img]br>[img width= height=]http://tinkster.com/ebay/baddirt.jpg[/img]

[livetogarden]

Hi Tink,
  How about just leveling one spot maybe in the center of the slope for planting 1 tall plant or bush? Want to try Lamium on the slope? Once it's planted you pretty much don't have to do anything to it. I planted some in my front yard which is total shade, best thing I ever did. We reseeded the grass every year until I decided to try the Lamium. It's a shade plant but I have found it works in sun too. It vines nicely, is variegated green and white and blooms in early spring. I have tons and will send you some free if you want to try it. The one bare spot is the only thing I see in your pictures that could use some help. The rest really does look nice. Our digital camera is broken or I would post a pic of my yard where the Lamium is.
Cath

[mcp]

Tink I have to agree with Cathy The left side looks very nice. The only bad spot is where it is bare. Can you not duplicate what you have done on left side. With all your talent can you not do a picture with paint like you did for me with my pond.I know a lot of people don't like them but I think a Butterfly Bush would look nice. Unfortunately in your earlier post you mentioned fall coming around the corner and we will have all winter to chat about what to do with your bank.

[MikeW]

Slopes like that are a bear!

Could you terrace out a few small areas that would enable you to at least wter plants, maybe drip irrigation, then plant stuff the "droops" or hangs down - wave petunias?

Cheers,

Mike

[karen J]

I think it looks nice, and agree with the others.

However, when I get a bare spot like that, which is dry, I've had great success with water plants. Seriously. Just get a waterproof container, fill halfway with dirt & fert, then add plants. Then top it off weekly, just like the pond (or however often you like). A tall Papyrus would look good there, some water Cannas, umbrella palm, or a lotus.

I did that with a dry patch next to my driveway this year, and it totally changed the character of the area. It was just a leftover lotus, but it looks a lot better than the ugly dry patch of crabgrass that it was.

[Jerry]

i am thinking terraces and boulders. Low growing gound cover type plants

[Wetbug]

tink,  Around my pond where I want moisture-loving plants, I sunk a piece of scrap liner and poked a couple-three holes in it with an ice pick, put a layer of sand, gravel and (and a couple of steping rocks to get across) then dirt, mixed about half and half compost/dirt. The east end (right side in the pic) is a 5x7 'wetland' that maintains bullrush, cattail, society garlic, cardinal plant, various flags and iris (& escaped pennywort from the pond) and a number of moisture loving weeds - collected my iris and flag and forget-me-not from local ponds. (It also receives pond overflow in the rainy season... and no, my pond is not level - it's 1.5 inches lower on the wetland side, by design) None of these moisture loving plants have traveled because when seedlings hit the drier surrounding garden, it's not sufficiently moist for them to survive.

In addition, in various spots around the pond I sunk smaller pieces of leftover liner where I have marsh forget-me-not, blue eyed and blood grass. Each of these like moist conditions if they are to make it through
our  hot, dry summers.

These plants add variety, color and beauty that otherwise would not be possible in these locations.

[Joyce]

I see you already have tall sedums, I would add some more of them.
There are kinds like Frosty Morn which is variegated, and Matrona which has burgundy tinted leaves.
Another tall sedum which is VERY dark burgundy is Sedum 'Postman's Pride'.
Then there is one that is so dark purple it looks black: Sedum 'Purple Emperor'.
And you can add some grasses like Blue Oat Grass which likes fast draining soil...aka Helictotrichon sempervirens.
Not invasive like some grasses either.

Then all around all of the above plants, use groundcover sedums, and a good charteuse (limey-yellow) one is Sedum Angelina.
And it's evergreen, and winter colors are flushed with hot orange. It has a blue colored cousin called Blue Spruce sedum, also evergreen low groundcover, aka Sedum reflexum. Another good one is the Graveyard Sedum' aka Sedum sarmentosum. This will be a pale lime green in stressed out conditions too. Sometimes is will even look yellow in really poor soils.
You can interplant all the groundcover sedums with larger varieties of Sempervivums, especially using the varieties that contrast with burgundy and blue tones. And you can stick in a variegated Yucca such as Color Guard which would be a spikey sea urchin looking accent with GREAT evergreen foliage. Loves hot, dry full sun conditions.

OK...I am all typed out now, on vacation in Newport, RI on my hubby's laptop...which I can not stand the little keyboard.
Plus he is pouting cuz I am neglecting him on his birthday.

One more suggestion, plant something along the chain link fence, evergreens, maybe some Rhodies spaced with some Hollies(at least 3-4 plants per group), and maybe a few Dwarf Alberta Spruces...the fence really has to be hidden somehow.