Oh Horton, you are so funny. I've got the picture in my mind. LOL. We had such a rare cold winter that I told one of the girls at work that when the temps hit 50 I'd wear a bikini and I'm cold-natured enough as it is. It is sad to lose some, but that is nature doing her thing. Thank you. Jenny, I am glad you enjoyed them. I did the same thing and poured through hundreds of pictures. The thing I liked best is every pond is different and as is their flair for ponding. And I have gotten so much great advice. I had really been really picky about the rocks I wanted, like just certain colors, shapes, whatnot. While I am far from finishhed, I am happy with the looks of it so far. I think the best thing you can do to avoid the necklace look, is to vary the sizes of the rocks. You will get the necklace look when you first start out, but it will go away when you start stacking. Now I am lookiing for inspiration for landscaping OUTSIDE the pond myself. You all have a wonderful day.

Hi scottspond, some how didn't think she would, Florida vs Manchester, no contest really ;-) The area I live in is New Mills, in High Peak in Derbyhsire. If it doesn't ring a bell, it's just past Lyme park, Buxton is about 2 miles away, Stockport 9 miles and Manchester 20 miles (all via road) Handily the railway station is about 5 mins away from my home, so trips to Manchester are pleasent through the countyside and don't require I use the car ;-) And in summer I get to hop on the odd steam trian, every boys dream. My Mancunian mates reckon I've gone "all posh" living here, as I was born and grew up in Fallowfield and went to school in Rusholme. Regards ChrisC.

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.

Owning 40acres in Northern WI. It has a pond for drainage as well as a pond underging succession. I want to change that and had come here as there are some other folks out there doing the same. I wanted to clarify some things. According to a checklist I found dnr.wi.gov/topic/waterways/checklists/checklist_manualdredging.pdf it appears that I can do this. I have an area about 30' x 20' that I will bring all down to about 1' or less, as long as it all has water and I can get rid of the canary grass. I will so this by hand and plan on replanting with native WI plants which will benifit nature. I realizeI am disrupting nature but there are some species of plants which are not native and are invasive which I would like to avoid and be rid of. I have read much drivel on this site and anyone who wants to know local/state laws the DNR of many states have excellent information on their respective websites. What a wonderful wealth of information. Teaches all anything from planting trees to building a pond. After removing I will place the spoils within 20' of the newly rejuvenated pond in case i picked up any critter along the way. They can make their way back home. I would love to simply fill in the wet hole but I cannot following the law!!! I repeat, following WI DNR codes I will work MY land finding compromise with what I would like as well abiding by laws set up to protect nature. I will plant the following in the water that will fill the hole: Spike Rush, Arrowhead, Waterlily, Pickerelweed, Sweet Flag, Wild Celery, Longleaf Pondweed, Water Stargrass All are edible by various wildlife and even some by humans. I do not have such an ego that I will keep them all for myself...... An old post I am adding to but I enjoyed and am going to enjoy more watching the ducks swim among the frogs. There are 39.8 more acres that has already succesionized so I don't worry too much. I hope the rest of the frogs nt in the pond don't die too much from the glyphosate I will use to get rid of the canary grass so I can plant trees. Only about 400 this year.