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Paolo, you are the IT man, I only have a laptop... I think you need a pond!

Thank you Darrel 😊

Hi all, I was looking at some recent pictures of the pond in the middle of my water garden and remembered this old post from a couple of years ago; At the time, people here were thinking it could be either Fool's Watercress or Lesser Water-parsnip, as both look so similar, eg; Well, as...

Thank you all so much for your kind words! Much appreciated, really. Here is the link to the show on iplayer. My garden is about 37 mins into the episode; www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001n4cy Let's organise a UKAPS visit!

Hi all! Just to let you know, my water garden will feature on BBC Gardeners' World tonight! BBC 2 at 9pm. It will be available on BBC iPlayer after 😀👋👋

Sorry I have been absent for a while but after reading your super-kind message, I felt a quick response would be appropriate. It has been another busy year in the water garden. I built a new path at the back, with new 'water meadow' style planting area in between the new path and the back pond...

Today, I am posting a bit about blanketweed and algae. There is blanket weed in most of my ponds. I have found over the years that blanket weed comes in different forms and stages. Most of the blanket weed I have at the moment is at the stage of where it starts to die off and float (see pic...

Thank you Courtney:):) That is so nice of you to say, and so funny. Thank you Ginkgo!!!

Thanks @mort 🙋🏽‍♂️ That's good to hear (aside from the blackbirds!). That sounds realy great! it is so inspiring to look at planting communities in the wild. I did consider Persicaria bisorta and agree with you that it would look great and match existing planting. In the end, I went for...

To bring this blog up to date, in this post I will share a few pics to show how the wetland garden progressed through both the autumn and the winter months. Throughout autumn, Sanguisorba 'Blackthorn' was a great addition to the water garden. Its flowers and seedheads provided interest until...

Cheers Courtney!! I planted my Elodea in baskets with clay topsoil and placed them at the bottom of my ponds (80cm depth). I read the other day in one of my Ada Hofman reference books that in her experience, Elodea does better on a shallow marginal pond shelf and that if it is planted deeper...

Thank you @Courtneybst @LondonDragon @NatalieHurrell @Tim Harrison for the interest! The water garden peaked late summer, around September, but autumn was good also. The picture above was taking in early November. Lots of yellow and golden colours as you can see. I will try to bring the blog...

The variegated Norfolk reed growing in tubs with water are doing ok, although they have not gained the height I was hoping they would:

Thanks Courtney. I agree, the colour is so striking: I will share a few more pics as a quick update. Scirpus tabernaemontani 'Albescens' is doing well in the back pond and looks good surrounded by Selinum wallichianum:

I found found an interesting factsheet about Stonewort (Chara) by the Freshwater Habitats Trust. It backs up what you said about them preferring mineral substrates like sand, gravel or clay dislike silt. I am going to try taking a cutting and put it in some sand and see what happens. Great to...

Hi Mort. It is Helianthus salicifolius, a perennial sunflower. I agree with you, it looks great near a pond. It does tend to topple over a bit this time of the year when it is in flower but that can add to the drama and add to the wild look it creates (or it disappears or blocks pathways which...

Hi Tyko, thank you so much for kind words and sharing your experiences of witnessing Chara growing in wild (snorkeling in Sweden sounds great!). I will try to keep it from getting overgrown, as you suggest. Today I had another look and cleared some Elodea out of the way. The Chara is actually...

I came across something interesting growing in the pond at the back. I was going to ask for an ID on here but by co-incidence I just saw someone on Facebook posting the same question with a very similar looking plant. It appears that this is not a plant but an algae (!) called Chara. I found...

Thank you so much J-Bonham👍🏼👍🏼 It is such a blessing to literally have this on my doorstep but you are so right, that happens to me all the time - taking just a quick look at something ending up lasting so much longer! I do not miss the lawn. The stupid thing is though that after going all out...

Thank you Natalie! I agree with you. Whatever the surroundings, the inside of any pond can be just as fascinating. Before I had my own space to build these ponds, I made do with large plastic tubs as mini ponds and still spent many hours each week working on them and enjoying the nature within...

Thank you so much Ady. I do spend many hours most days out there. For ages now, it has felt the garden is 95% ready but the final 5% is never ending. I have oiled the curved decking pathway and the decking over the large pond at the back. Still need to do the decking near the house and the...

So your water soldiers are out already... Competition (or lack of) for nutrients and/or allelopathy may well be one of the reasons then Another great theory to keep an eye on! It has been a very wet summer as well. Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. One more observation from me. I just...

Thank you Mort and Darrel for your input🤗. I will place the P. amphibia a bit deeper then (and good to hear Darrel you think it is the right plant) Interesting yours are still below the surface ss well. Maybe just need to be more patient, although in a few ponds they are turning to mush. Could...

Thanks Steve! I have a couple of questions. Does anyone know about Stratiodes? As mentioned, they do not seem to be doing very well. I doubt there is much I can do about it but it would be interesting to hear your thoughts. I am starting to wonder about Persicaria amphibia, planted here in...

Thank you all so much! It is really incredible how much the plants have grown.

I have been extremely lucky with the weather. It has been raining so often, and during most weeks since the plants went in, so I have had to water very little, which has been a great help. And they are growing so fast! The Lythrum (purple loosestrife) are providing most of the colour at the...

Thanks for the suggestions Gill. Did you keep threadfin rainbows outdoors all year round? I posted this earlier in the thread, in case the info in the link is of interest to you; In addition, I researched Dutch and German pond forums years ago to see what fish people had successfully tried...

I am sure they still think I am a bit obsessed which of course I totally am. The front of the house is a drive and still has hundreds of plants in pots which need sorting out. But at least this madman now has something to show for his sins. When they see my garden - and many have - they are...

No problem Gill. Great recommendations, thank you. I have looked into all of these. I would love to have Pumpkinseed Sunfish but this is not allowed here for understandable reasons. The pond closest to the house has Fundulus julisia. The second pond has Aphanius mentho and the third pond has...

Thanks Marcel. Right now, one of my favourite aspects is the Butomus growing alongside the Phragmites and Lythrum which does evoke memories of Dutch ditches and 'polder' landscape we both grew up around. Thanks guys😆. I went all out and I do feel very lucky with the result so far. I had not...

At the start of this journal, I shared this picture of a small preformed pond I dug in three years ago and said that I hoped the pond and planting around it would be a template for how the garden would look one day: The pond is still there, hidden between the flowering Lythrum in the picture...

My main focus over the last couple of weeks has been catching up with the pond plants which have been sitting in crates in the ponds waiting to be planted up. The ones I had already planted are establishing themselves and as more are going in, the marginal plants are really coming into play...

Yes, indeed, that is Potentilla palustris. Thank you for introducing me to this plant! It is starting to take off with runners climbing over the wood and making their way onto land, which is really great: I have it growing in several ponds. I have limescale on the leaves of both Potamogetons...

Wow, what an honour, thank you🙏. I hope to keep the updates coming and share my learning as the project progresses. Thank you Tim. I did order a lot of plants but it actually worked out far more economical to do a large order on wholesale prices. I still have to plant into pond baskets a range...

I guess like many on this forum, I have always been obsessed with water. I grew up in Holland spending most of my childhood fishing when I was not in school. Something about the water’s edge has always fascinated me and to this day, whenever I pass by a pool or a ditch, I just have to make my...

Very nice Tom. I had some appear on mine but cut them off before they flowered as someone told me Aponogetons die after flowering. Do you know whether this is true for the crispus red varieties?

Really nice Tom. From the link it seems you choose just one colour with this LED right? Which did you go for? Link to my thread re variable colour LED strips in case of use for anyone...

Looks fantastic Sanj. Funny your fish are getting in the way! Thank you for posting this - do share some close-ups when you take them next, it would be good to see the saggitaria. Your tank is so big, it could accommodate a little more wood as you suggest. But it also looks great as it is:clap:

Yes update please! And Forest's Edge tank as well. You cant keep it all to yourself!