Container Water Gardening

This pot holds 6 gallons of water. I have curly rush, some type of iceplant, a water lily (now semidormant), some type of iris floating on a piece of cork and a potted Miner's lettuce. I had mosquito fish but Kitty thought they were snacks for him, so I gave up on that. However, since I started this last spring 2006, I never had problems w/ mosquitos.

All my pets think this is their special water bowl. I may have just refreshed their regular water bowls yet their first choice is ALWAYS the container water garden!

The planter looks really messy right now, but during warm weather it does look like a mini pond. My pets (2 dogs, 1 cat) are fascinated by it, I don't know why.

This message was edited Mar 7, 2007 3:54 PM

another view

Voss, it looks like Miner's lettuce. I have two mini-ponds, for my mini-waterlilies, that are used as water bowls by the dog. I can't understand why she would pass on her clean water bowl either. But then, Blue will drink from every puddle she finds and from the stock pond. I call her the dog, because she is often on my "GRRRRRRR" list. She is mostly Border Collie and loves cattle, but she also harasses the calves at times.

Hi Voss...
I happened across this thread and couldn't help but chuckle!! (sorry)....
Looks like your water container is gonna look really nice once it gets going.

I have the same thing going on with mine.

Before

After
LOL, My cats also enjoy the water!
As well as
The raccoons
And the neighbors Newfoundland Dog who breaks loose every so often!!!

I also provide plenty of FRESH water for my cats but they prefer the water feature....
Darn Darlings!!!
:)

Kin, I have a tuxedo cat, too except mine has to be an indoor cat. Here he is about 2 weeks after his e-tube was removed. He was seriously ill with histoplasmosis.

This message was edited Mar 9, 2007 3:31 AM

Hi Veronica
He's really beautiful. Purrrr kitty... My cat Babs can tell you about tubes and such also. She's my 2,000 dollar cat....LOL
Gotta lovem even if they do get into places you don't want them. It's getting close to that time where they will be using the freshly dug garden beds as kitty boxes also...
Here she is enjoying the garden she helped plant. For some reason they do stay out of my container plantings. Thank goodness for that.

The dark fur under her chin gives her a mischievous look. What did she get into that cost you $2000? She seems to have recovered well.

I never tallied the cost for Winston's care, but I drove to College Station a good portion of 2005 with each visit costing between $250. and $300.00. He had to be anesthetized every time they took x-rays and that was every visit for a while. He loves to sit on the window sill. With scarred lungs he wouldn't last long outside.

Oh, someone please tell me how to do this! Shade? Sun? Pump? GGK it looks like a houseplant in yours with the variegated leaves, is it? Fish too!! Please tell me more!

Joy

I luv your container, Voss! It must look really lush when it is full. I really need to buy a corkscrew rush this year.

GardenGuyKin yours looks awesome to!! Such a pretty cat!

:) Donna

Veronica, without going into much detail. We had a really mean cat in the neighborhood. Babs had 3 different surgeries from being attacked.
The cat is gone now after all the neighbors complained.

Joy, here is a pic. from this morning. The plant your interested in is chameleon plant.
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2164/index.html
Very invasive if grown in ground.
My container is about 15 gal. and gets mainly morning sun and complete afternoon shade,,, once my jungle gets started....LOL
The bamboo spout is a kit with the pump that I bought at a local nursery 4 years ago and still running good. Now that I mention how well its doing it's most likely gonna die tonight!! LOL

Well I know one thing, it helps to watch the thread you ask questions in!! Finally found you again. I am try this on my deck this year. I have early morning sun and afternoon shade and electric for a small pump that I use in my birdbath.

GGK thanks for the info specially about the plant. Not one I want!

I am now watching this thread! Thanks again,

Joy

I'm looking for something new this year. Here's last year's WG.

I'm going to try a miniature water lily this year, helvola, http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/51691/. It looks gorgeous! But I wonder what else will fit. It would probably cover the surface. Has anybody grown one of these before?

I have the "minis" you can buy at Home Depot and they take up all the pot. Post the results on that mini from Perry's Gardens. It's awfully cute. I hope it's truly mini. There wasn't much of a description on their website.

hiya revclaus! what an excellent pic of your water garden. I should have waited to take a pic of mine when it looks like that. Yes, the lilies cover the pot quickly but you still get the water garden look, even if in a mini scale.

joyous, I just took a pot, added water and added plants. no pump. It stays clean and I don't have problems w/ mosquitoes hatching in my pot. Mine is in full sun, but it gets a little shade in the afternoon from the larger plants around it. My pot holds only 6 gal. of water.

Kin, masterful as always!

Vossner how come you wouldn't have any problems with the skeeters? Is it to hot for them?
:) Donna

Vossner thanks for your info too. I am curious also about no skeeters? Is it ever too hot for mosquitoes? Your pot looks larger than 6 gallons. It looks like I can see clear to the bottom.

Nery, I'm curious too! As dry as it was last year, we still had a few here on the ranch, but the frogs took care of those. How do you keep the mosquitos away?

I have a Helvola in my container water garden and it did nicely and didn't take over but about half the surface. I'm actually waiting now to see if it survived the winter. There are little tiny leaves I can see.

I don't have a pump in mine and also didn't have any mosquito probelms; however, I did use a mosquito dunk.

I 'd post a pic but I'm at work now (shhhh!) and no can do. :)

Deb

I don't have a pump in mine, but since Colorado has a high rate of West Nile, I use Mosquito Dunks. Every 30 days or so I put another chunk in. One is too much, but a half or third is just fine. You can't see it because of the duckweed I put in the pot, plus all the other leaves.

Deb, thanks for the info on the Helvola. I think I'll plunk down the $26 to have one this year. Can you post a pic when you get home??

Vossner, nice to see you again! How're things?

This message was edited Mar 12, 2007 2:24 PM

Donna, I don't know why I don't have problems w/ mosquitos, especially since I live in mosquito central. I have purchased mosquito dunks but have not needed them so far. Husband thinks it's possible that the small size of the container may have something to do with it.

The other day my little dog was watching me fix the pot in preparation for pics. He watches my every move so I guess he noticed I was inspecting my water lily rhizome. So what does he do? When I wasn't looking, he took it out of the bowl to play with it. I found it and put it back. He did it a 2nd time. I found it and put it back. The third time, I watched him go to the pot, watched him grab the rhizome and right then I yelled the loudest NO you have ever heard. It scared the fur off my baby and probably scared everyone within earshot. But guess what: Has not touched it again. Hee hee.

He doesn't usually mess with plants, but he is quite the imitator. For example, if he sees me digging, the following day, w/o fail, I will find a dug out spot, right next to where I was. Here is the "innocent" one.

We do have mosquitos the size of small helicopters here, but 1/4 of a dunk every so often seemed to prevent them from breeding in my little garden.

Revclaus: I only have two photos from last year. The first is when I had just planted the Helvola, and another when it had just put out its first bloom. It never got more than about 1/2 of the surface tho. I've got a larger pot for this year, too.

Deb

This shows the size of the flowers. I left the Helvola in the pot in the water outdoors over winter and it seems to have survived. Now, maybe it will be bigger this year, I don't know, because if it keeps going, it'll have a little earlier start as I didn't plant it til June last year.
Deb

Lastly, here's how it looks right now. It's about an inch below the surface, but appears to have made it through winter.
Deb

Is the dunk safe to use when pets drink the water?

Deb, I like your little pond. What are the names of the two upright plants? I think I need a Helvola this year. I have plenty of containers. We buy tubs of molasses/minerals for our cattle. I keep a number of the empties.

Nery, your little one is cute. I've had a dachund before (My sister has one.) and those little buggers have a vengeful streak. Snooky resented being left behind. I lost a number of pond plants to him. He also peed at the foot of my bed. He destroyed a few other things as well. Ugh!

Bettydee: The other plants in the pond are iris and parrot feather (which is a floating plant). By end of summer it looked pretty nice. Don't know why I can't find a photo. The dunks I use are "pet safe". I believe most are. Not sure 'bout that, tho.
Deb
(PS/My fave pic of the parrot feather.)

Deb, thanks for posting the pics. It's absolutely charming, and I'm going to try one. Did yours freeze over the winter? Mine has just thawed. I didn't keep it full during the winter so everything is dead. But I've had iris live through the ice. Helvola is supposed to be a hardy lily, so it might have a chance under the ice. Yours is doing great!

I use Parrot's Feathers too, although they got pretty long last summer.

Revclaus: Most of the winter, I just put a screen over it to keep leaves and pine straw out. It only froze over 3 times, and all of the plants seem to have survived. Of course, they probabl weren't the kind of freezes you have in CO!. (I hope the Helvola is ok. This is the first one I've had, but it certainly seems ok - no sign of growth yet but it's only warmed up the past couple of weeks.)

Deb

Bettydee Yes, dunks are safe...

Thanks for the info, podster.

Deb, I like that photo of Parrot's Feather. I'll have to look for one.

What I wonder is how hot the water gets for Vossner or anyone else in the sweltering south. I noticed some of the pots are white which would help. Do you keep them in shade/partial shade?

Pod, a nearby bigger plant provides some protection but it barely gets warm in the heat of summer and most of the time it is cool, like in a stream.

Mine is in part sun and, like Vossner's, it stays cool, even during those days of 90s/90s (temps and humidity in the 90s).
Deb

I used a large black tub the first year. The water got very warm. Algae was a big problem that year. It thrived in the heat. I use the expanded foam pots now, light in color. I wouldn't say the water stayed cool, but then my pots get sun almost all day. I plan to move my pots to the east side of the house. I would put it under the only tree inside the electrified fence, but it too far from the house to really enjoy. I may have to move it to a sunnier exposure. I'll have to see where it ends up by summer's end.

I think algae formation and fun sun are directly related. Even with my betta fish, if by chance I place his bowl too close to the window I notice that algae will start forming almost immediately vs. keeping "Georgie" in a slightly shadier location.

Just read this thread .I have never used the M.dunks good to know they are ok for pets , but I will probably continue to use the small gold fish @ 13 cents a piece a cheaper way to go . I have been using them for years in outside horse tanks.

LOL gardengus ~ growing up on a farm in the midwest, we used to catch a bullhead or two and put them in the stock tanks to eat algae. It also served to keep us kids out of the tanks for fear of being stuck with the fins. What a memory! Thanks.

Gardengus: this may be a silly question, but do you have to feed the goldfish?
Deb

No they seem to survive just fine on the algae and of course mosquito's . I do have to take them for the winter. they just stay in a big bucket in the garage(unheated) so they are too cold to need food .(dec-mar).

I wonder how much water volume a bidet would hold? I am also wondering how to plug it to make it fill to the max.? I have toyed with making it a water garden. Any thoughts?