Water Features

[passingcat]

Have any of you included a small or elaborate water feature in your garden. I always love the sound of water outside. It is so tranquil and relaxing! If so, what have you added?

 

[happyflowerlady]

We don't have anything yet , but the landlord gave us a small fishpond that he was no longer using, and he is going to come down with the backhoe and dig a hole for us to put it in as soon as he as time. I have some of the fringey palms and some cannas and elephant ears to put around it for shade once we get it in the ground. Then we just need to get the pump, and some sand and gravel for the bottom, and it will be ready for some goldfish hopefully.

 

[claudine]

I'm thinking about adding a pond, it would be lovely to have one in my garden. I love water and I love little frogs that usually live in ponds . I also dream about having a fountain, they always look so pretty and romantic.

 

[ChanellG]

I would like to have a fountain and or a small pond, but I just don't have the time to devote to those things right now. While you can build your own fountain and make simple ponds in containers, they still have to be maintained and my garden already requires plenty of attention. Not to mention, the mosquito population would probably quadruple if I did a pond.

 

[ACSAPA]

The apartment building that I've been stalking for 3 years has balconies, so if I wanted to have a water feature on a balcony, it would have to be one of those electric tabletop fountains. I'm not opposed to the idea, but I have to actually get the apartment first and a water feature isn't even in the top 30 things I would need for the apartment.
Someday ,though that would be nice. I've seen some little tabletop fountains that looked like Japanese deer chasers and I thought that was cool.

 

[Babble64]

I'd love to have a little pond but time, cost and mosquito concerns keep me from creating one. I love the sound of running water and I love rocks...so it would be great to make one with a flat rock waterfall ending in a small pond. I also love water lilies so would add them to the pond. Maybe someday......

 

[claudine]

Babble64, cost concerns keep me from creating a pond too
But I found an idea for a less expensive replacement:

Of course a pot like this it's not as lovely as a real pond, but it's still really nice

 

[Babble64]

Babble64, cost concerns keep me from creating a pond too
But I found an idea for a less expensive replacement:

Of course a pot like this it's not as lovely as a real pond, but it's still really nice

Is there a pump in it to keep the water circulating? I'd really have to be careful about mosquito breeding spots.

 

[claudine]

No, it's just a flowerpot filled with water. I know that some people grow water lilies in aquariums, it's something like this, only prettier. But I agree, mosquitoes can be a problem.
In my area we have already so many of these nasty creatures, that a few more wouldn't make any difference.

 

[justusforus]

I actually bought an inexpensive pump in the garden department of a local department store (under ten dollars). It actually was a reclining frog and they suggested you simply attach it over a large pot. I did not like the frog, but I kept the pump and made a sort of rock pile over the frog (using some quick cement to secure the rocks) and put it over a pot as suggested when I bought the pump. I then had a small statue I liked and put in near the pot on a few flat rocks and kept filling in around the base as I found more and more rocks. Bottom line, a poor person's fountain, but the babble is gorgeous and I actually have gotten a lot of compliments on my creation.

 

[claudine]

Justusforus, this sounds really good! Could you take a few pictures of your creation? I would like to make something like this too, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to find and inexpensive pump here, in my area.

 

[ChanellG]

@justusforus, I was also going to ask for a photo. I'd love to see how your stone project turned out. I'd like to have a small container pond, but anything that isn't 18 inches deep needs a fountain here because of the climate. Also, moving water deters mosquitoes from laying eggs.

 

[Philphine]

couple ideas

i didn't like the frog or other small animal type spitters either. who wants some animal constantly spitting in the water (or the ever so classy kid peeing at the edge of the pond)? i just picked a good sized rock and use a masonary drill to drill a hole through it. then ran a tube though it so water comes out of the rock.

also one someone suggested to me, but i haven't tried it myself yet. if the water feature is small enough, with no plants (or maybe they could survive i don't know), someone i worked with said he filled his fountain with windsheild washer fluid. i don't remember if it was 100% washer fluid or some mix, but he said it turned the water a nice blue, and kept mosquitos from breeding in it.

one more i just remembered. if it's a small pot like claudine showed with no pump/fountain, you might get away with a mosquito dunk in it. i don't know how often you'd have to add them though.

 

[ChanellG]

also one someone suggested to me, but i haven't tried it myself yet. if the water feature is small enough, with no plants (or maybe they could survive i don't know), someone i worked with said he filled his fountain with windsheild washer fluid. i don't remember if it was 100% washer fluid or some mix, but he said it turned the water a nice blue, and kept mosquitos from breeding in it.

Yeah, but wouldn't it overflow and spill windshield washer fluid over the ground every time it rained? Which means potentially poisoning the soil, not to mention sending yet more chemicals into the water table. Seems it would be easier to use something like mosquito dunks. If it doesn't poison fish, it can't be that bad for the environment.

 

[justusforus]

Justusforus, this sounds really good! Could you take a few pictures of your creation? I would like to make something like this too, although I'm not sure if I'll be able to find and inexpensive pump here, in my area.

I will update with a photo. Mine was from a Kmart, but they seem to be in most garden departments like at a Walmart or some of the home improvement stores. Some call them a "spitter" I see above and that is what it was a tube up from the pump and it came out the frogs mouth. Guess I could have ripped it out or pulverized him, but it seemed like to just cover him up did it. Check online now that you have a few names for it.