New bonsai garden, including koi pond!

[JoeR]

Awesome Adair, you managed to design it so that it looks as natural as possible and not so contrived. I think you need to add some native carnivorous plants though

 

[Adair M]

Awesome Adair, you managed to design it so that it looks as natural as possible and not so contrived. I think you need to add some native carnivorous plants though

Oh, I have them! Not a Cb lot, but at least three or four.
Here’s a picture of one of the pitcher plants:


The flowers have spread!

 

[Adair M]

Awesome Adair, you managed to design it so that it looks as natural as possible and not so contrived. I think you need to add some native carnivorous plants though

A friend is going to give me a Virginia Pine he collected but is too large for bonsai. A literati kind of thing that I think I can set so that it hangs out over the pond. I’ll take a photo once I’ve got it set.

I’m not much of a gardener. The in-pond plants are doing well and softening the look of all the rocks. In a year or two, it should really look good. Meanwhile, I still need to add more stuff around the outside perimeter of the pond. Thing is, I don’t want to block the view of the bonsai, so that limits the height of stuff I can plant.

 

[Underdog]

I have a honeysuckle hanging out over my pond. Put it on the backside from where I usually hangout for the same reason.

 

[JoeR]

A friend is going to give me a Virginia Pine he collected but is too large for bonsai. A literati kind of thing that I think I can set so that it hangs out over the pond. I’ll take a photo once I’ve got it set.

I’m not much of a gardener. The in-pond plants are doing well and softening the look of all the rocks. In a year or two, it should really look good. Meanwhile, I still need to add more stuff around the outside perimeter of the pond. Thing is, I don’t want to block the view of the bonsai, so that limits the height of stuff I can plant.

I'm looking forward to that pine!

Since you are not much of a gardener, I'd say try to stick to native or weedy species. Off the top of my head these are a few really nice plants that are low maintenance and provide some sort of service:

To reduce algae in the pond, consider a fast growing surface species like duckweed or similar, to outcompete the algae for nutrients. Once they inevitably grow out of proportion, you can scoop the excess ones out. You can find some at a stagnant pond. However, koi may eat these (my goldfish did) and if so, you would have to look into a larger species of floating plant.

For ground cover, there's a few things I like that you can consider, depending on effect you want. not native, but Phlox is a nice creeping cover, with flowers. Thyme would have a similar effect. For larger plants you could also do a form of mint or oregano, with the bonus of being able to harvest it. If you want larger, any aster would be great- echinacea, daisy, black eye Susan, etc. These will attract alot of pollinators as well, which you seem to enjoy.

Something I particularly like is called Jack in the Pulpit, an arum, that is native and has interesting flowers and nice trifoliate leaves. They propagate themselves easily through seed and 'bulb'. They stay small, no more than 8 or so inches tall max. Easy care.

To soften the look, consider adding cultures of spike moss or liverwort marchantiophyta, to the moist areas of the rocks. They grow quickly and can soon give the area a mature look if desired. These can be collected in disturbed moist areas, or bought online. Some say to blend with milk and apply to rocks.

Depending how spry you feel, you can also collect numerous native ferns that also help to give it a mature and full look. I like the ones that produce spores on separate stalks, as opposed to on the underside of the leaves.

Floating bladderworts are unique, they flower and also have aquatic 'root' systems that trap and consume things in the water- bonus cleaning effect, potentially reduce and larvae in the water.

And of course Sundews

 

[Adair M]

I'm looking forward to that pine!

Since you are not much of a gardener, I'd say try to stick to native or weedy species. Off the top of my head these are a few really nice plants that are low maintenance and provide some sort of service:

To reduce algae in the pond, consider a fast growing surface species like duckweed or similar, to outcompete the algae for nutrients. Once they inevitably grow out of proportion, you can scoop the excess ones out. You can find some at a stagnant pond. However, koi may eat these (my goldfish did) and if so, you would have to look into a larger species of floating plant.

For ground cover, there's a few things I like that you can consider, depending on effect you want. not native, but Phlox is a nice creeping cover, with flowers. Thyme would have a similar effect. For larger plants you could also do a form of mint or oregano, with the bonus of being able to harvest it. If you want larger, any aster would be great- echinacea, daisy, black eye Susan, etc. These will attract alot of pollinators as well, which you seem to enjoy.

Something I particularly like is called Jack in the Pulpit, an arum, that is native and has interesting flowers and nice trifoliate leaves. They propagate themselves easily through seed and 'bulb'. They stay small, no more than 8 or so inches tall max. Easy care.

To soften the look, consider adding cultures of spike moss or liverwort marchantiophyta, to the moist areas of the rocks. They grow quickly and can soon give the area a mature look if desired. These can be collected in disturbed moist areas, or bought online. Some say to blend with milk and apply to rocks.

Depending how spry you feel, you can also collect numerous native ferns that also help to give it a mature and full look. I like the ones that produce spores on separate stalks, as opposed to on the underside of the leaves.

Floating bladderworts are unique, they flower and also have aquatic 'root' systems that trap and consume things in the water- bonus cleaning effect, potentially reduce and larvae in the water.

And of course Sundews

Someone gave me some iris that must have had duck weed on them. I planted them up in the bog, above the waterfall. Up there, it grows prolifically. I’ve harvested it a few times.

once a day, I go up and disturb the patch of duck weed, and let some flow over the waterfall into the pond. The koi find it and eat it.

I don’t have a problem with algae in the pond. The bog, part of the filtration system gets a lot, and I harvest it weekly.

The water in the pond stays crystal clear. I have a UV filter that kills the single cell algae that turns the water green, so I don’t have that.

 

[Saddler]

It’s been a year since you turned on the water. Can you post a pic or three of the pond? I’ve been doing a lot of research on ponds and picked up a decent amount of information for a beginner but didn’t understand how some of it went together and i just reread your thread and I have to say, your build pics have done more then two dozen hours reading forums and looking at other pond builds to help me put it all together. I really like how your pond feels like it is an oasis you built your house at then a pond that was taken out of a shopping mall like the majority of pond builds look like. I will be referring to your build when my time comes so please take pics and update as the seasons pass. I will need the pics of how the look softens over time to reassure my wife that I haven’t decreased our property value by the price of a couple German cars.

 

[Adair M]

It’s been a year since you turned on the water. Can you post a pic or three of the pond? I’ve been doing a lot of research on ponds and picked up a decent amount of information for a beginner but didn’t understand how some of it went together and i just reread your thread and I have to say, your build pics have done more then two dozen hours reading forums and looking at other pond builds to help me put it all together. I really like how your pond feels like it is an oasis you built your house at then a pond that was taken out of a shopping mall like the majority of pond builds look like. I will be referring to your build when my time comes so please take pics and update as the seasons pass. I will need the pics of how the look softens over time to reassure my wife that I haven’t decreased our property value by the price of a couple German cars.

Here’s a couple of pictures for you:








It really has softened up a lot as the plants have grown in.

I also recommend a YouTube channel. “Greg Whitstock, the Pond Guy”. He owns Aquascape, a company that manufactures and distributes the hardware required for ponds and water features. He also trains installers how to build ponds. And hison his YouTube channel, he goes around and visits ponds that have been built by the people he’s trained. He has hundreds of videos. And the ponds are amazing. He also has a series of videos geared more towards pond builders, showing more of the “how to” stuff.

Here’s a link to one to get you started:

 

[Ruddigger]

Adair, that is an amazing pond. There are some other YouTube videos by a guy called the pond digger, where he shows you step by step how to build a pond. His videos were extremely helpful for me, I just finished mine last month, I don’t think I could have done it without them. Mine isn’t as impressive as Adair’s, but fora diy I’m happy with it. Total cost about 4,000 bucks.

 

[Saddler]

Here’s a couple of pictures for you:


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It really has softened up a lot as the plants have grown in.

I also recommend a YouTube channel. “Greg Whitstock, the Pond Guy”. He owns Aquascape, a company that manufactures and distributes the hardware required for ponds and water features. He also trains installers how to build ponds. And hison his YouTube channel, he goes around and visits ponds that have been built by the people he’s trained. He has hundreds of videos. And the ponds are amazing. He also has a series of videos geared more towards pond builders, showing more of the “how to” stuff.

Here’s a link to one to get you started:

Thank you. The pond is a lot different then your last pics. Very nice. I will add The Pond Guy to my YouTube rotation for ideas, thanks for that.

 

[Adair M]

More:

This is the bog area, which acts as a filter:



The lower area of the pond;



And, above the bridge:

 

[Canada Bonsai]

Looking great @Adair M
Can’t wait to see that red Dissectum fill in and weep over the pond

 

[Mayank]

Here’s a couple of pictures for you:


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View attachment 321888

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It really has softened up a lot as the plants have grown in.

I also recommend a YouTube channel. “Greg Whitstock, the Pond Guy”. He owns Aquascape, a company that manufactures and distributes the hardware required for ponds and water features. He also trains installers how to build ponds. And hison his YouTube channel, he goes around and visits ponds that have been built by the people he’s trained. He has hundreds of videos. And the ponds are amazing. He also has a series of videos geared more towards pond builders, showing more of the “how to” stuff.

Here’s a link to one to get you started:

Looks beautiful @Adair M. Is the sprinkler head connected to a hose something to keep herons etc away? All fish happy and healthy and wintered okay?

 

[Mayank]

It’s been a year since you turned on the water. Can you post a pic or three of the pond? I’ve been doing a lot of research on ponds and picked up a decent amount of information for a beginner but didn’t understand how some of it went together and i just reread your thread and I have to say, your build pics have done more then two dozen hours reading forums and looking at other pond builds to help me put it all together. I really like how your pond feels like it is an oasis you built your house at then a pond that was taken out of a shopping mall like the majority of pond builds look like. I will be referring to your build when my time comes so please take pics and update as the seasons pass. I will need the pics of how the look softens over time to reassure my wife that I haven’t decreased our property value by the price of a couple German cars.

Let us know how it goes. I'm sure you've got a handle on all the pond cycling, ammonia, nitrite type stuff and bog v/s biofalls filter or both etc but if you have any questions please post them. I for one love the soft sound of my waterfall and seeing colorful fish darting around while I'm working on my bonsai. Here's a few pics of my pond

 

[Adair M]

Looks beautiful @Adair M. Is the sprinkler head connected to a hose something to keep herons etc away? All fish happy and healthy and wintered okay?

Indeed it is. I haven’t had any problems with herons since I installed them.

 

[roberthu]

Well, one DOES have to get some exercise SOMEHOW! I think it would be worth it to have to come into the kitchen to select your next beer:

View attachment 254155

That humidor is my dream!

 

[roberthu]

We added bacteria already. The pond plants came from other ponds, so there’s bacteria there’s too. But, without fish, there’s nothing producing ammonia, so there’s nothing for the bacteria to feed on at this point.

This is a fairly large pond with a large under-bog under ground pool of water. Large ponds are far more stable than small ponds. Sure, the water chemistry will fluctuate, but it’s designed to be pretty much self sustaining.

Guys, I used to have a salt water reef tank. Compared to that, maintaining a koi pond is a piece of cake!

Man reef tank keeper here. You and I do share a lot of the same hobby!

 

[amcoffeegirl]

My goldfish also love to eat duckweed.
It is go for them too.
Very nice set up.

 

[Sunwyrm]

I set a bald cypress in a bonsai pot in the bog. It’s loving it!

 

[Adair M]

Here’s some recent pictures: