Backyard ponds « Garden Water Features

August 25, 2009

Plants for Backyard Ponds

Filed under: Backyard ponds — admin @ 4:09 am

Keeping your backyard pond in good condition year-round can be made much easier by your initial selection of plants. There are three main types of plants that can be included in backyard ponds. All of these plants will help maintain the health of your backyard pond, as well as provide color and interest.

Floating plants

Floating plants can help with the clarity of your garden pond. However, they also have the tendency to grow quickly and can eventually become an over-growth problem. Some floating plants like Water Hyacinth are actually classified as weeds in some areas.

Emergent plants

Emergent plants such as water lilies not only add color but also the amount of shade available in your pond. Having 50-60% of your pond covered with emergent plants can greatly reduce the amount of algae you must deal with. These plants will not always survive the winter and can either be treated as annuals or taken inside during the colder months. however, the problem with moving these plants to a warm environment is that parasites can grow.

Submerged plants and marginal bog plants

Submerged plants and marginal bog plants create oxygen during photosynthesis. This can help the levels of toxins in the water.

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August 12, 2009

Koi in Your Backyard Pond: 3 Important Considerations

Koi (photo flickr-corrieb)

For some water garden enthusiasts, the best reason for having backyard ponds is to be able to raise koi or other fish such as the common goldfish. Both koi and goldfish are beautiful fish and relatively easy to care for. (Be aware, though, that there are different varieties of goldfish, and not all of them are as hardy as the common goldfish. Check before you purchase.)

Koi and common goldfish are indeed easy care backyard pond fish, but that doesn’t mean that they are “no care”. There are three important things to consider before introducing koi or goldfish into your backyard pond: 1) water temperature, 2) oxygen, and 3) predators.

Backyard Pond Temperature

Depending on your climate, you may or may not need to use a small heater during winter to keep the water in your backyard pond from freezing solid. It’s OK if ice forms at the top of your pond, as long as there is unfrozen water deeper down for the fish to swim in and a hole for oxygen. Do check to make sure your pond is deep enough to prevent it from freezing right down to the bottom during winter. If in doubt, install a small heater or pond deicer to prevent the water from freezing solid.

Oxygen

You’ll need to use pumps and filters to keep enough oxygen in the water to support fish life in your backyard pond. You may also want to use a pond skimmer to remove the big debris prior to filtering.

Predators

Backyard ponds can attract attention from predators such as (in North America) raccoons, birds (particularly herons), snakes, and domestic cats. These predators can decimate your fish population. Not only is this upsetting, it can also be expensive. You can minimize this problem by designing your backyard pond to have lots of places for fish to hide from predators.

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