I think I jinxed myself with my last post, bragging about our good weather. This week has just been rain and storms, with more to come. Given the poor outlook for weekend gardening, I took a long hard look at my water gardens and decided to make some changes. The other big event this week was the purchase of gravel to finish the pond. The gravel arrived on Friday, and Ray installed it before I got home from work. The finished pond looks fantastic, and I no longer have to worry about tracking sand around on my shoes. The 10cm layer of gravel was laid over a layer of weed mat do if we ever have to take it up, it won’t be as big a hassle as last time.
I have had my big, clay lily pot for around ten years now, and it has seen a few changes in its life. In Mandurah it was positioned beneath the clothesline, in one of the sunniest spots in the garden. It was planted with a single Nymphaea Chromatella, and was home to numerous fish species over the years; including rosy barbs, Buenos Aires tetras, Florida flag fish and finally spotted livebearers. It was always clean and clear, receiving regular top ups with the hose to flush out the leaves and gunk, and a full clean-out when the lily needed repotting.
After relocating to Joondalup, it was initially placed on the pavers in a sunny spot and planted with Gloriosa lilies, a blue Louisiana iris and some amazon sword plants. It looked ok initially, but despite the shade cast by the nearby cocos palm, I think it was getting too much hot summer sun. The plants looked yellow and failed to thrive, and I was getting a lot of string algae blooms. The gold medakas it was home to were happy though, producing fry here and there. The pot also became the favourite watering hole for a local pair of spotted doves.
Having had enough of the scruffy looking emergent plants, I decided to strip the pot down, move it to a shadier position and plant solely with the freshly divided and repotted lilies. This seemed to work well for a time, and the lilies flowered better than I had ever seen them.
I was pretty happy with the pot, but it never really stayed as clean and clear as it did in Mandurah. I suspect the issue was still excessive light, coupled with the constant input of leaves from the neighbours trees. Recently I tried to improve the conditions for the new resident paradise fish by adding a layer of zeolite gravel to the base and performing more regular water changes. But it still didn’t stay clear.
After seeing how well my parents fish pot was doing beneath their covered patio with very little care, I decided to give up on the lilies and shift the pot under cover. The most logical spot for the pot was the corner of the patio where I keep my Anthuriums and Heliconias, and had recently set up my plastic summer tubs.
After netting the paradise fish by torchlight and relocating them into the pond, I drained the water and lifted out the lilies and submerged plants; leaving behind a stinking layer of black ooze. I baled the muck out and used it to water my Hibiscus hedge, then scooped out the zeolite (I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do with this now, perhaps I’ll blend it into future aquatic planting mixes).The lilies were placed in a plastic tub filled with water and set aside for repotting. The Vallis and pond weed were transferred to the pond along with the fish.
After clearing a space and sweeping up the accumulated leaves, I got Mark to help me carry the pot to it’s new position. I filled the pot from the hose, added water conditioner and left it to settle overnight.
The next day I cleaned the matured sponge filters from the tubs and added them to the pot along with the fish, Java moss and Java fern. After repositioning the potted plants, the job was done.
The plan with this pot is to let it become overgrown with Java moss, and add a small group of Honey gourami when the weather warms up. I have kept these in planted pots before, and they are one of the most beautiful fish for small potted water gardens. The doves soon found the newly relocated pot, so they won’t be going thirsty in summer.
Sunday’s job was to repot the water lilies and add them to the pond. Unfortunately I only had enough aquatic soil to plant three of the four (the last one will have to stay in the tub until then). It was too wet to take photos of the repotting process, but I basically took them out of the old aquatic baskets (which aren’t ideal for water lilies as it turns out) and potted them into black plastic wash basins using aquatic planting mix and a layer of river sand. I didn’t have any lily tablets, so I bought some osmocote aquatic plant prills and added four to each pot. The paradise fish will soon have more refuge, and I should have lots of red, anise scented lily blooms come spring.
I also picked up some discounted water grass from Bunnings. They were quite overgrown, but they should come good when I am able to divide and pot them up, and submerge them in the pond.
