Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Is watergardens!! Dogs got me into them though. It started when I bought Tag a clam shell because he loves water. Then I noticed frogs had laid eggs in it which started me buying plants for the tadpole habitat which led to me buying some fish to keep the wrigglers down, which led me to buying more and more and more of those lovely ceramic bowls to put aquatic plants in. Here is just one of them. My water lilies are early this year :) 5F6A3810dppt by kirislin, on Flickr 5F6A3813dppt by kirislin, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Gorgeous!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Here's 2 mini ones that are just by the dog door, on my little deck, more like a porch. I think the black stalked leaf one is some kind of taro plant, not sure but I love it. The little blue one rescued, it was out on the nature strip for hard rubbish!!! I've got another water lily and some milfoil in that one. 5F6A3817dppt by kirislin, on Flickr and of course, the dogs are never thirsty. :D 5F6A3816dppt by kirislin, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimax Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oh they are pretty! I'm about to ditch my clamshell sandpit because my guys don't use it (except to pee in), maybe I could try and turn it into an aquatic plant thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 (edited) Oh they are pretty! I'm about to ditch my clamshell sandpit because my guys don't use it (except to pee in), maybe I could try and turn it into an aquatic plant thing. Yes do!! this was last years lily flowering. It's not the same one as the first pics. Water lilys first day by kirislin, on Flickr and this one's got rainbow nardoo, milfoil and azolla fern on it. IMG_4997dpp by kirislin, on Flickr this one's a creamy white, this is from last year, but it's currently flowering now too Water Lily by kirislin, on Flickr Edited November 27, 2012 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimax Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oh they are pretty! I'm about to ditch my clamshell sandpit because my guys don't use it (except to pee in), maybe I could try and turn it into an aquatic plant thing. Yes do!! this was last years lily flowering. It's not the same one as the first pics. Water lilys first day by kirislin, on Flickr and this one's got rainbow nardoo, milfoil and azolla fern on it. IMG_4997dpp by kirislin, on Flickr this one's a creamy white, this is from last year, but it's currently flowering now too Water Lily by kirislin, on Flickr sooo pretty. do they attract mozzies or anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oh they are pretty! I'm about to ditch my clamshell sandpit because my guys don't use it (except to pee in), maybe I could try and turn it into an aquatic plant thing. Yes do!! this was last years lily flowering. It's not the same one as the first pics. Water lilys first day by kirislin, on Flickr and this one's got rainbow nardoo, milfoil and azolla fern on it. IMG_4997dpp by kirislin, on Flickr this one's a creamy white, this is from last year, but it's currently flowering now too Water Lily by kirislin, on Flickr sooo pretty. do they attract mozzies or anything? Yes they do, that's why I had to add fish, so they would eat the wrigglers. There are still mozzies around here but it's not because of my watergardens. No wrigglers growing in them as I have fish in all of them. Very low maintenance though. I dont need to feed them, although sometimes I do just for a treat, but they seem to live off what ever other life grows in there. I also planted my dam, but big mistake to add the rainbow nardoo to it. It's completely covered the dam now and I suspect I will have to eventually get it dug deeper so at least the nardoo will only grow on the edge. From a tiny thread of a plant in only took a year to cover the dam. I've learnt from that one My first water lily by kirislin, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjelkier Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Very pretty. I would love something like that but keeping the Samoyeds out would be impossible :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HazyWal Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Just beautiful Kirislin. I would love something like that but it doesn't matter how easy you say it is I could kill a plastic plant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Just beautiful Kirislin. I would love something like that but it doesn't matter how easy you say it is I could kill a plastic plant :laugh: I'm not much of a gardener but these are pretty easy. Mine aren't fancy, I dont have filters or pumps, it's all still water. When I want to freshen it up for the fishies I siphon some of the "dirty" water out and into a watering can and put it on my garden plants, especially the fruit and vegies and then top up the water gardens with fresh water. I love it on a hot day that there is so much water about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oooh they're beautiful! How do you do it? Just buy the plants and put them in the water? I'm a bit of a black thumb. :laugh: Do your dogs eat the fish?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimax Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Yes they do, that's why I had to add fish, so they would eat the wrigglers. There are still mozzies around here but it's not because of my watergardens. No wrigglers growing in them as I have fish in all of them. Very low maintenance though. I dont need to feed them, although sometimes I do just for a treat, but they seem to live off what ever other life grows in there. I also planted my dam, but big mistake to add the rainbow nardoo to it. It's completely covered the dam now and I suspect I will have to eventually get it dug deeper so at least the nardoo will only grow on the edge. From a tiny thread of a plant in only took a year to cover the dam. I've learnt from that one My first water lily by kirislin, on Flickr Hmm, don't think I could sell the idea to the OH if it came with mozzies. She wanted to turn the clamshell into a fish "pond", but I didn't want the maintenance or upkeep involved. If it was plants in water, that's her area :laugh: (plants die if I have anything to do with them!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PossumCorner Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 They look good K - my neighbour has some good ones going which really surprised me for this hot dry area. She has half-sunk a couple of old baths into the ground, and the frogs find their way in so they are full of taddies. Just has to be sure the water is topped up so they can crawl out when mature. We do have kookaburras around, but not in the numbers they were in the Dandenongs. I could never keep a fish pond of any kind going in Belgrave because the kookaburra hordes always found a way to get them. Do tadpoles eat mozzie larvae, or are they vegetarian? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Nope taddies dont seem to eat wrigglers but I have some little fish called white clouds because when I bought them I was told they're native to Australia. I've since found they are not, so dont let the go into our waterways, but they're little, tough as anything and eat wrigglers. You can get small native fish that will eat wrigglers and leave the taddies alone, that's what you want although if you can be sure of never letting the white clouds go they do the job very well too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Beautiful, I love water gardens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 Oooh they're beautiful! How do you do it? Just buy the plants and put them in the water? I'm a bit of a black thumb. :laugh: Do your dogs eat the fish?! No, the dogs dont eat the fish although Tag does still jump into the clam shells and they've got taddies and fish in there, so I would imagine they dont like it too much, but he doesn't do it alot. Some water plants are very easy to maintain. Milfoil and nardoo are pretty easy. There's a little native lily type thing with yellow flowers, might be nymphoidies or something like that. I used to have it but it must have died off. Once you've set it up there's not much to do. Some need to be re potted after a couple of years, but then you can divide them. The main thing is to put pebbles or river sand on top so the soil doesn't drift away, and fill the pond slowly, or add the pots very gently. Some need fertilizing, I've just given my lilies and the lotus some tablets. Not sure how the lotus will go, I only bought it last year, it was expensive and doesn't seem to be growing that well. Lilies are easier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyCresties Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 They are gorgeous Kirislin but the mozzies would put me off too - the buggers love my pommie blood :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 I keep saying you dont get mozzies from them if you have fish in there, and the fish require no maintenance. It's easy. I've even put some fish in my horses water trough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted November 27, 2012 Share Posted November 27, 2012 Thanks kirislin :) I'm going to do it on the weekend! I was just saying to my OH the other night that I'd like a pond, but he wasn;t really into it, so I'll just start with some nice big pots :) Can you buy the plants from places like Bunnings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirislin Posted November 27, 2012 Author Share Posted November 27, 2012 (edited) Yep, Bunnings, although I've never bought from them, but most nurseries have a water garden section. Dont get sucked into buying expensive lilies straight away though. I can even post you some rainbow nardoo and milfoil that you can pot up yourself if you want, oh, and azolla fern, that you just sprinkle on top of the water and it floats. The azolla gives good protection for gold fish against kookaburras, if you decide to get goldies. It just keeps on growing and you can scoop some off and put it in your compost or on the garden as mulch. Edited November 27, 2012 by Kirislin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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