Up to now I’ve mainly used whiskey barrels for water features for aquatics but the past couple of years it has not worked for the water lilies which apparently need annual dividing and plenty of room to roam (also fertilizer) so I am experimenting with a larger set up with the intention/fantasy of building a pond at some point.
This year I grabbed some scrap lumber from the garage, a $17 plastic bin from Walmart, divided the lilies (this is gross, incidentally – I overwinter them in buckets in the garage although in theory I shouldn’t have to; I just don’t have the nerve to let them freeze solid. The result is they spend the winter in mud and buckets and it smells like what you would expect after five months of foliage decay.)
In any case, here’s the drafting process….
First, rough build and effort to stabilize:
Siting change – I’d originally planned to set it on the deck but it was awkward and weird:
Roughly 2/3 foliage cover keeps algae down but I let it almost fully cover the surface eventually. I remove lily leaves and water lettuce as needed to let light through, but this keeps the water fairly clear and also cooler – the tub is black and could bake in the sun I think. There are two types of lilies – ‘Texas Dawn’ and ‘Wanvisa’ (who hasn’t shown up yet). I plant a few parrot feathers as oxygenators – they come with a little weight attached to them so they sink to the bottom and eventually root. The end result is a fairly stable system with low algae and enough oxygen for the snails that inevitably tag along on aquatic plants, as well as the lilies, and Fountain Frog.
Here’s ‘Texas Dawn’, currently on her second bloom. I’m still learning about water lilies it’s an improvement. You can’t really see Fountain Frog in this picture but he the blurry amphibian in the top right quadrant.
And here is the handsome devil himself:
Things I would do differently next year:
- Expand the size of the insert
- Cage the lilies after dividing (it makes them easier to lift, rearrange and manage if you use one of those perforated planters for pond plants, but you could drill a bunch of holes into a plastic pot and call it a day)
- Use kitty litter (the stuff that is just clay) as the growing medium. There are arguments about whether or not to cover that with gravel to reduce sediment. I do, but left to its own devices the clay would settle so there are no concerns. I’ve
- Be better about fertilizing.
- Do a separate pot for the two types of water lilies – they grow *fast* and need to be divided annually. (Anyone want a water lily?) It would also allow me to incorporate other marginals I grow in water, like Lemongrass and Colocasias.