I thought that I would post a picture of the pond from this morning. The cattails are all dead from the winter now but should be back very soon now that it's warming up. When we moved in last year the cattails surrounded the pond pretty densely but the dogs 3x day daily swimming kept them pretty maintained without destroying them. The pond is about 30 feet deep so I am sure that not many plants could overtake it! And with the swimming dogs and us fishing daily in the warmer weather that should help as well.

I love the pictures of Emma! How did you get them inserted with a reasonable size rather than gargantuan like mine? Unfortunately, we've been dogless for two years. Because of the amount that I currently travel, it is probably going to be a couple more years before I can defend getting a pair of goldens again. BTW - I subscribe to the theory that goldens are much happier in pairs. Ours used to sit patiently under a big pine tree (where the large pond is now located) for hours after they chased a squirrel into it. What type of snail would work? I am not aware of any places locally where I can capture wild ones. Will the pet store variety work? Are frogs likely to stick around or will they go "on a walkabout"? Do I need to introduce plants before fish? Right now, the pond is pretty sterile. In a week or two, when the flowering trees drop their blossoms, some organic matter will inevitably end up on the bottom of the pond. BTW - we are at 1/4 mile from the nearest natural body of water. So, no need to be concerned about prison breaks by the pond critters.

Marti8a, Thanks. We did a little on line research and we know what to expect in the way of eqp ... luckily there is an easy out of the way place to site it. Not sure if we have local pond tours ... garden tours, yes. KMarcel, Glad to hear you enjoy them. We are planning on 4' minimum, and a bottom drain. I want the little fellas happy! Annie, Those are cool. But I think we need something with visual weight to anchor a 17' wide circle ... these are so delicate. Cloudswift, It sounds delightful to have koi. I am not sure about hiding places vs cleanliness. Some things I read advise to keep the bottom clean and empty, it seems... Good news about straight sides. Ours would be straight, since a slope would look odd within the stone circle IMHO. One thing DH said is that any heron that is on our property would have two choices. 1) An almost 2 acre pond with carp, bass, sunfish, frogs, snakes and (as of their delivery 2 hours ago) a seasonal supply of 200 trout, 100 feet from our house. Or, a 17' wide pond only ten feet from our house with a few koi in it. Hopefully they don't have a taste for koi! KSWL, I see your point. And I do try to keep to the vernacular, although some elements ... indoor pools, flat screen TVs, etc are hard to make "ye olde"! I think the issue here is that you will only see them when you want to. They are off to the side entrance. Most of the time, it will just read as a fountain, which is why the fountain cannot be asian, modern, or italianate. Lazy, That is very sweet and kind of you to post again to press your point! From my breakfast room banquette, I would probably only see a small trunk of a new tree (given the roofline and the windows). I would like to create a reason for people to go to this overlooked patio area. I need a draw. A tree won't be.

Thank you for your comments suggestions and encouragement. I am posting a few photos this time and it will show what I have used and how I made certain things. Firstly, perhaps I should mention that what happened as I searched deeper into planting in a steep-walled pond (with no sloping, shallow end) was that I found myself reading more about hydroponics and aquaponics. Because of the methods used in these fields, I have been using the sheet polystyrene (rigid sheet foam, or what have you) as you will have noticed in my video. My latest island (oh my, doesn't that sound grand!) is a 4 ft x 8 ft x 2" thick sheet with a 3/4" PVC (schedule 40) frame. For transport reasons I had to by 4 sheets at 2' x 4' and join them to make an 4x8. Having done this I decided that a PVC frame would help keep it together and assist with anchoring/mooring it. Here are a couple of photos: I joined the sheets with Gorilla glue which works very well. I jointed all the PVC with the appropriate glue to keep it airtight because open PVC tubing will sink. I then added some 'lumps' of polystyrene glued together and hacked them about to look like rocks: I angled the edges of the island and painted the sides and top with some exterior household paint I had lying around. Then I painted the rocks with acrylic paint of various reds, blues and browns until they looked natural (!?) Here is a photo or two, what do you think? (The wire is a set of solar night lights) Given that the ground cover in the foreground should later cover the nasty brown of the surface, I think (hope) it should turn out alright. Oh; one other thing I did was to add a sheet of filter material to the underneath to encourage bacteria (I used swamp cooler pads, but in a roll). That is the reason I placed it next to the air stone column, as can be seen in the photo. I originally placed it directly over the air but found that it smothered the air column so effectively that it made the whole of the pond appear to be still, like a mill pond. Clearly I did not want this so I moored it to the side of the column. The air bubbles assist the bacteria and will therefore help clear the water. Most of what you see there, plantwise, is a ground cover but there is also mexican feather grasses and some herbs (sage, parsley, etc). BTW. The photos are in high-def so you should be able to zoom in if you wish. Other updates: The lobelia is getting towards its end but still looks OK. The goldfish continue to grow, and goodness knows how many mosquito fish are in there now. I might have to consider another fish to keep them under control as there is no sign of the goldfish doing this and I am told that they should eat the eggs or small fry. Any suggestions welcome. Overall, the water is starting to clear, possibly thanks to the addition of barley straw and pellets. Pontyrogof; Interesting idea of wattles made with stuffed stockings Victorian_bellefonte; Cork, eh? Never thought of that. It should look very natural but does it not become too waterlogged over time. How about a photo of some you are using. Nice-looking pond, too! Mary; Thanks for the nice comments. I'm hoping to put an update video soon. Donna; I have had no success with water hyacinth or water lettuce, never have; I think it might be the full sun the pond gets. Thanks for the interest and keep those ideas coming, please. Steve