Our Lily Pond

	Our pond was constructed when Wei Wei was on maternity leave with Zion. Keith and Asya taking a break as Bo and Mickey look on. At this point, about two days of digging (about eight hours) have been done. The dug up dirt is piled on the left side of the pond to make a retaining wall because the site slopes down from right to left. The beginnings of a marginal shelf can be seen. The deepest part will be approximately 3 feet. The shape and size of the pond can be drawn out by shaping a hose or spray paint.  Then dig!  Care should be taken to ensure the sides of the pond are level.
	An exhilirating moment - filling the pond with water. The liner is an EPDM liner purchased from a local roofing contractor. The pile of dirt covered by liner on the right forms the foundation for the waterfall.  A pebble beach will be in the foreground.
	Add water, then rocks. The big moss boulder in the front is one of our favorite spots to relax by the pond. The foreground is a pebble beach. The flagstone leads to a flagstone path winding around the left of the pond to a grassy area beyond the pond (future pond site???). To the right is a boxwood bush which hides a drum-style biological filter positioned to the right-rear of the pond.
	This picture was taken in late April 1998, when most of the plants have been planted.  To the left of the waterfall are dwarf cattails and regular cattails; to the right are crinum lilies; in front are irises.
	The pond as it looked in June 1998.  The pond surface is mostly covered by plants, which helps to keep the water temperature at a comfortable 86F in the +100F temperature we had here in Dallas, Texas. In the foreground are dwarf papyrus, irises and taro.  Next to the waterfall are cattails.  In the lower right corner is creeping primrose.
	A shot of the rock garden on the backside of the retaining wall.  The pockets in the rock garden are planted with mostly succulents and some Texas blue bonnets - our state flower.
	A shot showing some of our koi. The two larger ones were about 10" long when the picture was taken.
	This picture was taken mid-September, 1998, which shows two beautiful Texas Shell Pink blooms.  This is a night blooming tropical water lily with darker green lily pads with crinkled edges.  They make great cut flowers too and remain open during the day when cut and displayed in a vase.
	Our barrel pond.  The pot on top of the barrel is a banana.

The Pond

This pond is approximately 2000 gallons, with the maximum depth at about 3 feet. The hole was dug manually by Keith primarily although Wei Wei did shed her share of sweat and did get her hands dirty. The soil is compacted clay. We have found that the easiest way to dig is to dig one shovel deep across the entire surface area, then go down another shovel deep until the desired depth is reached. A marginal shelf is built around three-quarters of the pond perimeter to accommodate bog plantings in pots. Another shelf at a deeper, about two feet, depth is also created at one end to accommodate plants that desire deeper depths. The shelves should be wide enough to fit large plant containers, at least two feet wide.  We, with some hindsight now think that such shelves are not necessary. The plants can be placed on milk crates, which do not decrease the pond volume but further provide hiding places for smaller fish. Bog areas are also dug out at selected areas outside the pond itself.  At the completion of the digging phase, a two-inch layer of sand was laid on the horizontal surfaces, and some roofing felt was used to pad the vertical surfaces prior to laying down the liner.  The liner is a 45 mil EPDM roofing liner.  We didn't bother rinsing off the powder that was on the liner to prevent sticking.  No adverse effect due to this was ever detected.  After the pond is filled with water, the edges are lined with rocks.  The rock edging is moss boulders with beautiful multi-colored lichen and moss growth hand picked from a local stone yard. The rock delivery required a boom to lower the larger rocks from the flat bed over our 4 ft. brick wall to desired spots around the pond. The rocks, even the large boulders, were placed directly on the liner.  Soil was then placed in pockets between the rocks.  A rock garden full of succulents, thrift, and other assorted plants was created on the retaining wall. At one end of the pond, a gradual sloped area was covered with multi-colored pebbles for a beach. This allows birds easy access to the water for drinking and bathing.  Fortunately, our dogs (a golden retriever and a labrador retriever) do not like getting wet and have never attempted to get in the pond.  A flag stone walkway links a Pavestone(TM) patio to the beach area and to a grassy area beyond the pond. The rocks totaled four tons of moss boulders (large and small), 1/4 ton of pebbles, and one ton of flagstones. A drum-style biological filter filled with a continuous strand monofilament glass fiber material used for insulation. We have discovered this material should be put into sacks or some other containers to facilitate taking the material out for rinsing. The pump, a Beckett(TM), also powers a three-foot tall waterfall, creating a soothing melody.

The Fauna

We don't have an exact number for the fish. The significant group of our fish are some decent koi and goldfish that were purchased from a Wolfe nursery here in Dallas. The Wolfe nurseries were closing its doors, and we bought the fish from one store's garden pond display. Most of the koi have very pretty markings. These koi eat like pigs and display personality and intelligence unmatched by most fish (except some saltwater fish). They will scope out feed pellets that have landed on lily pads, and swim up the lily pads to get at the food! Also in the pond are two shiners that Keith acquired from a local stream. Two plecos keep the algae count down. Plecos cannot overwinter successfully in Zone 8 here in North Texas, so they will be "sacrificed" (much too difficult to catch them to bring them indoors). The pond is also overrun by hundreds of mosquito fish (gambusia), which originated from just four that Keith caught from a local pond. Numerous toads called this pond home in early and mid-Summer 1998 and 1999 and produced thousands of tadpoles. This year, the numbers have been much reduced. We fear a use of pesticides by our surrounding neighbors, which may have decreased their numbers. We don't use any pesticide except for Andro for the fire ants. There are also three bull frogs (Croaky, Pokydot, and Scardy Cat). They croak, hop, wrestle, and are a lot of fun. The bull frogs were purchased in 1998 from Hong Kong Market in Garland at the corner of Walnut and Audelia. We used to have a four foot long snake that showed up in 1999. We were able to catch it and release it far from our house. This is one animal we can do without! A young red ear slider turtle didn't make it over the winter of 1999. It was confused by the early warm snap and came out of hibernation too early. There were also koi additions ( a yellow one and a white and orange one) from some good folks down in Midlothian we swapped some plants with that continue to thrive.

The Flora

The pond now boasts a regular size waterlily, a hardy white, a night blooming tropical pink ( Texas Shell Pink), and several miniature yellow lilies, which are jostling with each other and other assorted floating plants for a spot in the sun.  The waterlilies are potted in large pots and placed on the bottom of the pond.  Several dwarf waterlilies fill in some of the voids and are placed on the marginal shelves.  Dwarf umbrella papyrus plants, horsetails, dwarf and regular cattails, water forget-me-not, crinum lilies, and pickerel rush each occupy a bog area in the pond. Pots of water irises, taro, parrot feather, water poppies, some assorted sagittaria plants and some plants we cannot name are potted and placed on the marginal shelf.  Keith was able to germinate seven lotus plants from florist lotus seed pods, and these are in pots sitting on the marginal shelf too. There are also some submerged oxygenating plants in the pond. The water surface of the pond is about 95% covered with vegetation, providing much needed shade from the hot Texas sun.   We also have a batch of  fast-growning pink lotus seedlings that are potted and placed in the pond.

Underwater Lighting

We have two 60W lights in our pond which provide good underwater illumination at night. One light is aimed more upward so part of the light leaves the pond and shines on the water fall. The lights need to be cleaned occasionaly since green algae can grow over them. To see if you like underwater lighting, you could try a water proof flashlight, or those fishing lights that float on the water for night fishing (they are 12V). Our lights are homemade and use a low voltage outdoor lighting transformer (about 140W) from an old "Toro" brand set we had. The 12 V power supply has a photo cell plus a 4 & 8 hour selection switch. Once it is activated by the photo cell, it turns off automatically after the selected period. The lights are automotive sealed beam headlights (about $5 each). Wiring is heavy lamp cord with connections sealed in silcone rubber. The lamp and connections are set in a box filled with wet cement (light side up - connections in cement). Once dry, tear the box off and retest the lights. The concrete allows the lights to be sunk (they float otherwise) and protects the connections further. When testing, do not turn on the lights above water for a long time (they can get quite hot) and then put the in water as this may crack the glass. Car headlights are tough and durable and should have a rather long life compared to normal pond lights. It would be a good idea to have all pond electrical components on a ground fault protected circuit. Some extension cords now have these built-in.
 

Miscellaneous

Some additional neat ideas that Keith came up with:

    1.    Plant fertilizer injector - we use the Osmocote 18-6-12 extended release fertilizer which is in tiny pellets.  Adding these little pellets to pots submerged underwater is difficult.  Keith cut off the tip of a plastic syringe, so that the plunger is able to be pushed out of the front end.  Fill the syringe with the fertilizer leaving a small space at the end.  Fill the end with some soil, which acts as a plug at the end of the syringe holding the fertilizer in the syringe.   Push the end of the syringe into the pot and push down the plunger.  Voila!

    2.    Are your water lettuce or water hyacinths floating all over your pond whichever way the wind blows?  Use a piece of fishing line and tie one end to the edge of the pond (to a rock or some other fixed object), corral the floating plants to the edge of the pond and wrap the fishing line around them.  Secure the end of the line to some other fixed object.  Try to arrange the fishing line so that it falls near or below the water line.  The fishing line will be invisible, and your pond will be neat as a whistle!