My mini pond has given me great happiness this summer! My friend built it for me about four years ago and it was deeply shaded until this season. Sunlight = pond steroids!
The total water volume is about 375 gallons. The top box is filled with pea gravel and acts as a bog filter and water fall.
The plants are the stars of the pond. In the bog box, I have creeping Jenny, blue lobelia, chocolate mint, elephant ears (taro), pickerel weed and bacopa caroliniana. I have water lettuce and water hyacinth floating. On the right, there is a laundry basket with three canna lilies. Dwarf papyrus ‘prince tut’ is in the ceramic pot on the left. The water lily is the hardy variety ‘wanvisa’. It blooms almost daily! I planted a lotus ‘.perkinensis rubra’ tuber about three weeks ago. I doubt it will bloom this year, but, who knows? If it gets too big I will transfer it to a tub.
I fertilize the lily with pond tabs every two weeks. The marginals, including the bog plants get tabs every 2-3 months.
Believe it or not, there are fish in here! I have gold fish that I bought as feeders who have grown fat and happy.
I live in northern Indiana, zone 6A, so I do have to winterize this later in the fall. I will store the canna and elephant ear tubers in my basement. I treat the mint, lobelia, water lettuce, hyacinth and papyrus as annuals. The lily, lotus, dock and pickerel rush are all hardy. I will run an air stone for the fish and use a floating stock tank heater for the fish. I welcome other winter suggestions, though!
Feel free to ask questions! I love my pond!