Pond lilies add beauty and grace to a pond that cannot be matched by other water plants. They also help keep the pond water healthy and give fish and other aquatic animals a place to hide or cool down on hot days.
Pond lilies are easy to care for and reproduce freely. By dividing the plants you will have a constant supply of new plants that are quick and easy to transplant into new holding pots. And if you have too many it’s the perfect excuse to trade plants with the neighbors.
How to divide water lilies
If you’re not that familiar with water lilies you may not know they are planted in water baskets. Begin by lifting the entire basket of water lilies from your pond in the early spring. You will want to do this before they flower, but after new leaves have developed.
Set the basket on a tarp, plastic or the grass. This can get messy so I prefer a tarp to make cleaning up easier and the lawn or work area clean.
Begin by pulling the plant out of the holding basket by the base of the stalk. You will need to be careful not to damage any young shoots when removing the plant. Provide support to the plant with your free hand.
Next cut through the root ball with a large sharp knife. When you make a cut check first to make sure each section has new growing tips attached. Make as many cuts as necessary to return the lily root ball to the original size.
Each section can now be replanted to create a new lily.
How to plant the new water lily plant
Line the new basket or pot with hessian to prevent the soil from being washed away.
Fill the pot with aquatic soil mixture and insert the new lily plant.
Carefully cover the rootball with soil and fold the hessian over the top of the pot. Make sure you allow the stem and leaves to emerge from the top.
Add a layer of gravel on top of the hessian to prevent it from floating. Pack the soil and gravel in place.
Submerge the pot or basket in shallow water. The new shoots on the pond lily should rest at the surface of the water.
You will want to move the potted plant to a deeper section of the pond once the leaves and stems have grown long enough to reach the surface.
Your new lily plant should begin blooming in June. To keep you pond healthy and clean check the plant and remove deep leaves to prevent debris in your pond. This step will save you time later on.
Stunning shows of color floating on the water in you pond will add peace and tranquility to your own backyard. And the varieties of lilies available will give you a wide choice of color to add to you lawn and pond garden area.
Note: Do not use regular potting soil in the baskets for aquatic plants. The nutrients in the soil will cause algae to grow in your pond. This will cause you problems later on and also expense of trying to rid the pond of algae.
As I walked around my property today and took in the large amount of storm damage caused but this summers excess rain I realized I should redo one pond. And I need to add two more ponds as quickly as possible to prevent more property damage.
One pond needs to be cleaned out from silt caused from flooding and two new ponds will help me to control excess runoff from heavy rains. One new pond is more of a runoff pond and I think the other could be used as a wildlife pond.
All ponds have a use, its just deciding what is and how to accomplish adding a pond successfully.
But when you are planning a pond there are many considerations to take into account. Here are two that you should consider before even planning a pond.
Local Building Codes for ponds
Contacted your municipal building authority to ensure that your plans abide by the local building codes. Will you need to build a fence around your water pond? Ponds built with a certain depth require fences for safety). You also need to how large of an area your water pond can be, and other legal considerations? Also check with the utility companies to make sure there are no buried pipes or right of way restrictions.
Pond Safety
Safety is something that normally doesn’t immediately pop into your mind when building a water garden pond. But it today’s society it should be your number one concern. It’s impossible to ensure that your pond will be completely safe, however, will that be any consequences for your lack of planning if something were to happen? Plan ahead and make sure your water garden is easily accessible for the purpose it was made for. Friends and family should be able to enjoy the pond but it should be safe for children and anyone who wanders onto you property.
Even a small decorative water pond in your backyard garden or patio area can be a hazard with a small toddler!
Ponds add beauty and relaxation to any backyard and home. But they need to be planned to fit the families need and provide safely and beauty to the property.
The most popular type of outdoor pond is without a doubt a fish pond, with clean waters and filters. The much less common option, requesting a more adventurous spirit, is to build a wildlife outdoor pond.
First let’s define what is a wildlife pond. A wildlife pond is a natural environment hosting a self-sustaining ecosystem. A spot in your property backyard where nature has regained full control and you are merely an observer.
What are the steps to create wildlife backyard ponds?
1. Your pond must be located where wildlife has a free and undisturbed access. Best spots are the very edge of your property and close to nature.
2. Follow the building tips described below.
3. Borrow water from an existing wildlife pond, naturally occurring ones are best.
4. Let nature take control.
5. Eventually the environment will take care of the rest.
What can you expect? Well, if you take care of the details, you will have an autonomous ecosystem filled with a variety of living creatures and with little need for maintenance at all.
Building a wildlife pond.
A wild life pond is built using any informal outdoor pond plans, but your equipment list will be smaller as there is no need for filtration or aeration, nature will take care of this tasks. An important point to add is that fish will destroy your insect population, the basic food for other wildlife animals, so this kind of pond won’t host any kind of fish in it.
The best place to locate your wildlife pond is at an edge of your backyard, as close as possible to nature. But avoid problems, far from your house and neighbors property as the pond will attract insects, toads and other animals.
To create natural hiding places for the wildlife you want to attract, keep the vegetation around your pond as high and untidy as possible, but allow human access to enjoy and take care of it.
A secret ingredient that will make the difference. Find a naturally occurring wildlife pond, take some water from it and introduce it into your pond. The organisms you got from the natural pond will populate your newly created wildlife pond.
What kind of animals can you expect? The water borrowed from the natural pond will start an insect population. Your first visitors will probably be pond skaters and eventually dragonflies. With insects in place yo will start attracting their predators, toads and birds. If your site won’t let easy access to animals you can by some toads and introduce them to your backyard. But if your pond start growing mosquitoes or other undesirable insects you can add snails to keep the water clean.
Pond building have a large number of options, and wildlife ponds are not always the most popular, but if well planned and executed it can be a wonderful part of your backyard.
Looking for some ideas and inspiration for your outdoor pond, then visit pond-building-mastery.com to find essential tutorials, know-how and tips about pond building.
A garden landscape is a wonderful and relaxing place to be in away from the hassle and bustle of the noisy downtown. Garden landscaping is usually laid out in a large area but still some gardens are also made in limited space.
During the Renaissance and the 1880s in United States formal garden landscaping was popular. The basis of the formal garden landscape is on geometric shapes that has boundaries defined by stone walkways, walls, hedges, fences, fountains, and statuary. Today formal garden landscape still exist in Botanical gardens and large estate.
For limited space usually in urban areas the modern/domestic garden landscape are used.
The types of garden landscapes are Organic, Herb, Roof, Vegetable, Rock, Water, Flower, and Public gardens.
The Organic garden landscape is highly emphasize nowadays because it will not use artificial pesticides and fertilizers that harms living things. This garden landscape they use only biological fertilizers and pesticides to keep the plants healthy.
Herb gardens are found in botanical gardens and medieval garden. In this garden landscapes the plants have medicinal properties like parsley, fennel, thyme, marjoram, dill, and rosemary that is used in flavoring foods.
Roof garden landscape are found in urban areas which have limited space. The plants are usually in small pots and containers.
The Vegetable garden landscape is the healthiest garden landscape. This garden landscape needs open and sunny location. It is important that there is rotation of crops to prevent disease transmission between the plants. Being knowledgeable on the season to which to plant a vegetable is vital.
In rock garden landscape, it mimics the rocky hillside or a slope. It is vital that in this garden landscape the look should look like a part of a hillside. A bit of large boulders looks better. The rocks must be arranged that it should provide exposures to sun-tolerant plants like rock roses and shade-tolerant plant like primulas.
The next one is the Water Garden Landscape. In this Garden landscape it’s important to consider your location, culture, and climate. The shape of water garden landscape in Europe and North America are rectangular or circular pools that contain one or two water lilies and a fountain, or sometimes there are no flowers. Also in United States and Europe informal water garden landscape are irregularly shaped with profusion of water lilies and other plants that suit a watery habitat.
Water Garden Landscape in Japan has a particular and beautiful patterns in them that they preserved for centuries. While in temperate countries, the water garden landscape is grown under the glass in which the pools are heated.
Water Garden Landscaping represent some of oldest forms of gardening landscape. While based on Egyptian about 2000 BC the records and pictures showed the cultivation of water lilies.
Flower Garden Landscaping is perhaps what really caught our attention due to its colorful blooms. The vital components of this garden landscape is the blending and contrast of colors as well as the forms that are stressed in the design. It’s important to know which flowers can be planted in the garden.
The public garden landscape is the last garden landscape. The Japanese Garden in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is an example of a world-famous garden landscape.
Now, there are many varieties of plants available. So choose whichever garden landscape you desire.
About the Author:
Learn more about garden landscaping. Stop by Althea Joy Ingrid’s site where you can find out all about garden landscape and what it can do for you.
When your backyard needs redesigned but time or money may be an issue there are a few quick pick me ups to give the backyard a new look and welcoming atmosphere. With a trend in people vacationing at home, this is the year to make those changes.
Fire pits will quickly become a gathering point for family and guests to warm themselves and have outdoor cookouts. The light from the fire will stretch the time you spend outdoor into the evening hours. Your children may even want to pitch a tent and invite friends over for the evening. Fire pits can be hand made or store bought.
In the next year or two you may want to enhance the fire pit area with an outdoor fireplace or kitchen room.
Outdoor lighting adds to any backyard or patio area. Light a pathway, one of one your trees, backlight a plant with interesting foliage as a focal point, or wash a wall with light. This looks particularly pretty if it’s a rock wall or has a trellis with flowers and hanging baskets in front of it.
Tikki lights also add to backyard lighting along with mini lanterns placed in trees and on posts.
Today’s solar lights are getting better and low voltage lights are more affordable too. Theses solar lights places along gardens, paths and near water ponds add an atmosphere of relaxation to the backyard paradise.
Water ponds, water gardens, mini waterfalls and fountains are easy to set up. They can be store bought or made from items purchased at auctions and garage sales. If you have small children you may want to set up a child-safe pond-less fountain.
The addition of gardens, new plants or hanging baskets will brighten and change the look of the backyard quickly. Many people are setting up container gardening for just this reason. The pots can be moved around every week for a new look to the backyard garden area.
For the small backyard designs the addition of a mini table fountain and a trellis for plants will fit on a patio or balcony and add beauty and comfort to these small spaces. photo credit: bunnygoth
New patio furniture will also give the backyard a new look. Nice furniture can be picked up at sales and an auction for a few dollars. With a new coat of paint and cushions that match the colors in your backyard you will make an area to read or relax that also creates a design flow in your garden area.
These are just a few fast and modestly priced ideas for a quick and easy backyard design projects.
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