Chiming in for my own interest as well as to offer a suggestion. Warning: I am a novice - my advice might be detrimental! Hopefully, those with greater expertise can chime in and offer an opinion. I put in a 12 x 10 pond years ago. Did it on the cheap. I used the thickest black plastic on a roll I could find. It is not unlike painter's drop clothes only a lot thicker. Every 2-3 years I have to replace it due to it wearing out or getting holes poked in it by my kids playing around. It was $30 or so for a monstrous roll I still haven't used completely. Why not drain down the pond, muck it out, layer the pond with the cheap liner and see what happens? Full disclosure - I go to the local pet store and buy 25-cent goldfish. The sales people are usually good about letting me select a combination of different markings so my gene pool is diverse. I started with four and had it quickly grow to 40-ish fish. For a while I fed them but found out one winter I didn't have to - I was hospitalized and too infirm to care for them and they survived on the nutrients in the pond. Trees grew over the pond in time and they would muck up the bottom and clog my submersible pumps. Eventually, the shade countered the algae growth and I didn't need to replace the pumps. A small number of plants in pots that were weighted to stay submerge provided a small amount of cover. A shrub rooted near the pond and branches dangled to the ponds surface. I trimmed them but left the shrub for shade/protection. The problems were not health of the water or the fish or the plants. The problems were related to leaves filling the pond and "filling it in" substantially each fall. Until Tulsa changed the chemicals in its water supply. The 110+ degree temps and leaks in the thin-ish liner required fillings 2-3 times a week. I forgot for a week and it got really low. The water I added overwhelmed the existing water, and the chemicals wiped out the remaining dozen fish. The plants didn't seem to mind but I now have a muck-covered liner (several layers of it, actually, as I'd just add the new one on top of the other, figuring the old ones would provide some protection from roots poking through). Is that a practical solution? Buy some cheap CHEAP liner. Connect them to cover the bottom of the pond. Drain and muck out the pond, drop the liner and let it fill in. === Or...fill in a big chunk of it and create a new "wall" out of liner with rocks, backfilling with rock, soil, sand, whatever. Plant plants that don't mind wet feet and let them live in a bed next to a much more manageable pond.

Susan, I'm in Camarillo -- cool coastal climate -- things take longer here to establish. Once-established, we rarely cut anything back. *** I think Vintage's estimate of Mme. Antoine Rebe is probably valid. It's maybe 4 ft. tall here (fairly wide), after at least 5 years. In my coastal climate, she mildews unfortunately, and may soon be gone. Rainbow -- We couldn't even get it to grow here. Wimpy. In the Sacramento City Cemetery, it climbs trees, but it's still very "spare." And it mildews. (I have great hopes for "Moser House Pink Stripe," which seems to be a more-vigorous 'Rainbow' but -- too soon to tell.) OTHERS: Rosette Delizy -- Said to be "one of the small Teas." It is easily 7-8 ft. here, tho quite upright. General Gallieni -- One we grew for years never got over 3 ft., and finally died. I'm sure it was virused. I've got one going now, from Cuttings sent by a friend. Still looks like it won't be big here, but at least it's healthy! Jeri

I am looking for a Lotus plant/root that I can grow in a small 35 gallon fish pond. I live in Florida. Does anyone have any? Thanks you can email me for faster replies amberhawkx3@yahoo.com

I think September in zone 7 is probably still too hot. I'd wait till temps are down in the 70's or 60's. The heat stress will really be tough on the plant. And it's very likely that in your zone, it could still be producing its later flush of growth. Either wait till late September or October. And make sure you give her lots of water to go into the fall. She'll have had a lot of her roots cut and will need to take in lots of water.