Water, when used in a decorative form such as a pond or water feature, can play a dominant role in today's modern oasis, evoking the sense of a more natural setting even in the urban jungle.
Generally we associate ponds, formal or informal, as one of the components of the so-called bells and whistles of the well-appointed landscape. The prospect of installing a pond, however, does not make a big splash with homeowners who would prefer an alternative to both the price tag and ongoing maintenance of a large pond project.
While the love affair with the elegance and visual interest of a water feature is as strong as ever, the trend today is toward a new expression. Now, whether you garden on a condominium terrace or in a small urban backyard, the glistening reflective surface and trickling sound of a water feature can be yours with relative ease and affordability.
Container water gardens or patio ponds are the new aquascapes where simplicity rules.
How simple? The basic ingredients for a patio water garden consist of a container, water and plants. While it is possible for do-it-yourselfers to use any type of container, ensuring first any drainage holes are sealed with a bit of caulking, many garden centres this spring will offer a range of specialized water bowls in lightweight fibreglass or plastic.
What about choosing the right plants? Even that has been made easy with the availability of ready-to-go aquatic mixes of diverse and unusual plants.
Submerging a plant's roots in a patio pond is a fascinating concept. Generally, gardeners are reminded to avoid waterlogging their plants or risk drowning a plant's root system, and here we have an entire range of plants to choose from that love to have their feet wet.
Why don't aquatic plants drown? The International Water Garden Society (IWGS) divides aquatic plants into four groups: floating, submerged, floating-leaved and marginal. Plants in each of these groups have specially adapted leaves and roots that allow them to survive prolonged wet conditions.
Floating plants such as water lettuce with light-green velvety leaves or water hyacinth with striking light blue to violet iris-like flowers provide shade but also filter the water. Marginal plants that generally grow along the edges of a pond or bog, or can survive partially submerged conditions, feed on nutrients in the water, providing valuable filtration that in turn reduces algae growth.
These can include variegated spider-lily with its lovely, fragrant white blooms or dramatic upright tropicals with broad leaves such as elephant ear (Colocasia), canna, and calla lily. Narrow-leaved upright marginals include cattail, sweet flag and dwarf papyrus.
All play an essential role in balancing the pond ecosystem.
Hans de Jongh, Paridon Horticultural Ltd., in Delta, B.C., supplies plants including aqua plants to retail garden centers across the Prairies.
Initially, de Jongh anticipated local demand would mainly be for hardy varieties, however, the demand has been greater in Manitoba for tropical water plants than anywhere else. He credits this to our usually bountiful heat and sun in the summertime, ideal conditions for tropical plants to thrive.
Perhaps one of the most interesting plant selections for the water garden is Sarracenia purpurea, known more commonly as the purple pitcher plant, a carnivorous plant that requires moist conditions and hungrily traps insects. Relatively short at only 30 cm, the purple pitcher plant will surely attract interest with its exotic, trumpet-shaped leaves with red to deep purple colouration.
Gayda Rempel, retail manager at the Green Spot in Brandon, says some of her customers have been successful in overwintering the purple pitcher plant, the most cold-hardy sarracenia species native to North America.
The trick, she says, for caring for pitcher plants indoors is to keep them really moist. It can be tricky, though. Easier to overwinter water lilies, says Rempel, who lets the tops get hit by early frost, then allows them to sit and drain for a few days before popping them into a black plastic garbage bag, which she seals and stores in a cool dark spot indoors.
In the spring, Rempel retrieves the water lily, cleans it up, repots or divides, invigorates with a little aquatic fertilizer, then returns it to her water container for another growing season.
Most pond plants are annuals, however, some are hardy to our growing zone and can be transplanted into the garden in the fall. Hardy selections include marsh marigold, ligularia, corkscrew rush, creeping Jenny, arrowhead and some of the cattail varieties.
Unlike annuals, which are usually purchased at the garden centre in their ubiquitous black plastic containers, water plants are sold in special aquatic containers made from a flexible mesh filled with a lightweight aquatic potting medium with good mineral content. When placed directly into your decorative container, the soil stays in place while allowing water to flow through.
While some plants are sold separately, there are also aqua packs with ready-made combinations for a naturalistic, marsh-like container design.
Jordan Hiebert, co-owner of Lacoste Garden Centre in Winnipeg, says the mesh bags make it easy to transplant perennial water plants because the roots stay intact without being ripped.
The art of water gardening can be as simple as you like. Of course, even a container water garden comes with its own set of bells and whistles. Hiebert has a line of low-profile patio ponds made from double-walled fibreglass. "The benefit of an aquabowl," says Hiebert, "is that it has a built-in shelf."
This allows for more creativity in displaying plants. The bowls are also designed to hold a water lily in the centre, which helps to provide shade as it grows. Hiebert has a range of options to customize your bowl. Pumps and spitters add the beauty and sounds of water. Hiebert says the most popular type of spitter is a contemporary style made of bamboo. There is even one variety with a deer-scare option as well as more elaborate versions made from materials such as brass. An opening in the shelf accommodates cords for a clean look.
The addition of LED lights helps to extend the enjoyment of your patio pond well into the evening.
Polished rock can be placed in the bottom of the bowl to act as a filter, breaking down sediments or suspended particles in the water, and this helps to clarify the water.
Hiebert says natural bacteria or a product such as barley extract also helps to clarify water and further reduce maintenance. Goldfish can be added, too, and will do their part in eating mosquito larvae. Ensuring at least half the surface water is shaded with the leaves of the aquatic plants promotes a healthy ecosystem. Avoid crowding plants, though.
Ideally, your water container should receive up to six hours of sunlight. While water lilies are tolerant of some shade, they are more likely to bloom in full sun. Avoid excessive evaporation by choosing a location that is not subject to high winds.
Prefer to use your half whiskey barrel as a patio pond? Although it won't have a ledge, Rempel simply inverts a black plastic pot and sets it in the bottom of the barrel. Plants can be placed on it directly, or add a flat slab to serve as a surface, such as a piece of flagstone. Depending on the width of the base of your container, a series of inverted pots can be used to vary the height of plants.
If you want to protect the interior of a wooden whiskey or wine barrel, plastic preformed liners are available. There are also plastic versions of whiskey-barrel containers.
At season's end, Hiebert recommends storing fibreglass aqua planters in a garage or shed for the winter, preferably resting it on a piece of plastic or plywood rather than in direct contact with a concrete floor. Fibreglass weathers the elements without breakage or expansion, as it does not absorb moisture, so it can also spend the winter outdoors. However, Hiebert cautions against turning it upside down on your patio. The rim of the container can freeze to the surface and become damaged.
The empty container can also sit in the garden over the winter months, but storing it indoors together with the pump and spitter and any other accessories will ensure the longevity of your investment.
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