Water Garden Maintainence

Pictures surely are deceiving at times. My water garden looks really good in these pictures but in reality it looks like a mud bog.

I have been neglecting it somewhat for the past few years as I have my perennial beds.

I am turning over a new lily pad this year though!!

I love water and water gardens and fish ponds and rivers and streams and lakes and oceans and pools better than anyone in the world.

I have had several smaller water features over the years and one much bigger fresh water mud bog. I had such great plans for this one.

We got it built and filled and moved all my {{{{{HUGE}}}}} Koi from my bigger pond that was beside our fishpond. The Koi were never seen in that mudhole so I begged for this pond at my house. I picked out the perfect spot in front of my living room window so I could look out at the fish swimming around all day.

What I didn't realize was that I would be watching turtles, snakes and frogs swimming around all day long ;-)))

Build it and they will come!!!

We added a few water plants and things were looking pretty good the first year, even though the rock around the edges didn't get finished for several years, that was my Mother's Day gift last year. One weekend a few years back the pond water turned green and my brilliant husband decided that he would use the copper sulfate that he uses on the big fish pond to kill algae, to clean this water up. Well he did. On Friday evening he put a dab of it in the pond and the next morning it was clear as a crystal when he got up and checked on it. I came in about an hour later, from working an allnighter in the ER til 7AM and rounded the curve to find him with a shovel filled up with at 20"Butterfly Koi that was dead and he was throwing him across the fence...........wha????? He decided that if a little dab of copper sulphate did that good that a little dab more would be even better!! He killed 19 huge Koi!!!! All 19 Koi!!!!

I was not a happy camper but he was so upset with himself that I felt sorry for him too. He offered to replace them all but I opted to go the goldfish route this time. I have since used copper sulfate in very minute doses with good results. I used it this morning and then Postman Bob brought me my package from ebay today.........

20 Water Hyacinth plants from Florida!!

My daddy always hated those things when we lived in Florida and he would probably laugh at me for buying them. They used to get hung in the prop on our boat.

I needed them to shade and oxygenate my water.

I purchased 20 plants but when they came I had 41!!!! woowooooo!!!!

We have had extremely hard winds here and the pond is so full of debris from the neighboring trees.


I really need to get on a pair of hip waders and hop in there so I can really clean the floor of the pond...........................but I have nightmares about rubber hip boots filled with cold water. Just ask Danny about taking me trout fishing and me slipping on a slick algae covered rock and having my hip boots fill up with very cold creek water in April!!
I WAS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER EITHER!!!!
I think I will pass and let him do that. I ain't hankering to get in there with flip flops on either. I told you earlier the sort of critters that I have seen hanging out in there!!