JKOM, thanks for the complements on the garden! Adrienne, what appears to be a solid patio of stone is in fact a cantilevered wood structure support deck with waterproofing membrane and large sized travertine tile which spans the undisturbed slope around the pre-existing Maytenus boaria(Mayten Tree) that is all that remains from the "before" garden prior to my design. The tree canopy is in fact about the same size as the terrace below. This did require building a 2 foot tall reinforced concrete perimeter wall on the uphill side of the tree/edge of terrace to span and support the terrace and allow filling against at the uphill side to create a level lawn area. No tree roots were cut, the majority of existing slope around the tree was undisturbed, and the tree has roots all over the yard so that it doesn't need any direct rain/irrigation immediately adjacent the trunk. A raised deck is often a great solution for creating a level patio/terrace/deck around an existing tree, and making it solid is often a better solution for easy maintenance than a wood deck which traps debris between the deck boards and eventually rots out. I've often used this type of raised deck with solid tile for new gardens, even when they were flat and didn't technically need them, to raise up levels to better capture a view or create a special spot within a garden. Six years later the tree is perfectly happy and healthy still, and makes a superb anchor tree for this terrace, although Mayten trees are notorious for constant leaf litter drop. Mayten trees are a moderately slow growing evergreen from Chile that make great substitutes for a weeping willow sort of look, but are definitely only appropriate for zone 9/10 climates. As to no "triffids", sorry to disappoint; while this garden didn't originally start off with any palms, adjacent the terrace there is a rarely seen Trevesia palmata/Snowflake tree from Burma which definitely looks palm-like with branching. I've since added new smaller understory palms within the garden for the owners who purchased this spec-built home/garden 6 years ago now. I planted a Shaving Brush palm, Rhopalostylis bauriei cheesemanii and several clumping Bamboo palms, Chamaedorea micropadix and Chamaedorea tepelijote in an extra large pot at the terrace in the back yard, and also added two Windmill palms, Trachycarpus fortunei in the front garden. You should realize by now, that the "triffids" are everywhere here, there is no turning back :)! I can't say that I have ever encountered a new design client here in northern California who didn't appreciate the appeal of palms in a garden setting, especially when one avoids the problematic and too large growing types that are so much more prevalent here. This fall, I also added a recessed jacuzzi and leveled the previous sloped flagstone terrace at the upper garden for my clients, along with an outdoor shower off the tool shed/play house which is screened behind that wall with the Bougainvillea vine.

Thank you very much everyone! Pondbucket - It was a general aquatic fertilizer, not Miracle Grow or anything. They had all sorts of "specialized" fertilizers for lilies and things, this stuff [of course I can't find the box now] just said "all purpose." It's a granule, yellowish..? So not helpful, I know. Since I posted, it's starting to thrive some. Loads of roots are on the clay's surface and going through the the gravel, so I suppose that's a good sign. There's lots of new growth continuing to coming in, too. It's all concentrated lower down on the "older" stems and the "older" leaves/flowers are wilting and dying off, but the new stuff is bright green and getting some flowers. I tried to prune it a teeny bit, just to get the dead bits off, and it repaid me by having that entire stem die back. I put my shears away after that and have decided to let it do it's thing. Honestly I'm afraid I'll kill the darn thing and have to go buy another one just to have to baby it to death, too. If it starts failing again, though, I will most definitely try the mesh pot with gravel instead of dirt. It's supposedly a perennial here in Georgia, so hopefully I'll have next year to try and not kill it. :) Thanks so much!

Hey guys - thanks for the comments! It's great to come online and see more interest and questions. But before we get to that, look who popped its head open on Monday: I wasn't expecting anything to be blooming this year - what a special surprise this was. Relatively tiny blossom, but beautifully intricate and elegant. jcjcjcx - Well, in my experiences with soil, it's been kind of 50/50. On the one hand, it starts plants off really well. But on the other side, it doesn't ever stay in its pot, its lighter and more prone to tipping (if using a small container), and if not tended can cause a great deal of rot. Here are a few of my experiences: I was experimenting with some different pond marginals in the 3rd year and a few of those included cannas. I potted them in a long container full of soil and a few pebbles so they would be some-what weighted down. A few nights later, the wind picked up and the first thing that got knocked over was that pot! All the soil coated the pond's bottom and the rocks clogged the main drain line. We had to blow it all out of the pipe using the reverse side of a shop-vac. The combination of big pebbles and muddy soil made a substantial clot. And it was months before the soil finally got cleaned up! A year later, i experimented with some lotus seeds. I had scarred the seeds in the appropriate way and had some really nice shoots developing from a few healthy seeds. I started them off in a rich soil mixture with abundant water and when it came time to move them to the pond, i left everything as is because i didn't want to shock the plant. They were doing great for a month and i even had an airborne leaf at one time! But then within a few days the plant yellowed and died almost like clockwork. At the time, i thought it was just the luck of the draw. But after pulling the pot out and examining the tuber, it was pretty apparent - the soil suffocated the plant. It turned anaerobic and the plant shriveled up. When soil becomes so saturated, no water can penetrate through it enough to deliver new nutrients. Later on, it came time to buy a lily so we headed down a couple cities (everything is right next to each other in Southern California, haha) and found a beautiful purple lily. 45.00 plus tax - not an easy investment for a non-working kid. But at the time, the beauty justified the bill. So we brought it home and enjoyed its blooms for the few days it had bloomed. And being the naive kid i was, i assumed that you should leave it in the pot it's been growing in (as not to shock it). Well, i knew within a week i was wrong. It yellowed up, and stopped sending new growth. And when i brought it out of the water to check out what was wrong, the whole thing 'shlopped' out of the container smelling like putrid death. The tuber was pretty mushy and the growing shoots off of the main shaft had almost been frozen in time - brown and tightly rolled up. This was a tough blow seeing how i had just paid $50.00 for the thing. Fast forward to today, i almost had the exact same problem from the exact same place! (funny huh?) I bought the lily two Sundays ago, with the intent of 'doing it right this time' and replanting in a clay mixture. I didn't have the materials to make it happen that day though, so i set the whole pot in the pond and waited for the next weekend (i thought a week wouldn't hurt). I finally got all my materials last Sunday so i went to work repotting all my lilies. I took my Star of Siam out (the one i got from that place) and within a few minutes, 3 of the 5 pads broke off! I looked to the base of the breakage and low and behold - the beginnings of rot! I had blamed my fish for one of the pads busting off earlier in the week - but it was a weakened plant instead! I immediately pulled all the soil out and washed the roots till they were spot clean. The soil itself was black and full of that ammonia smell and i could easily see why these plants weren't making it past a few weeks. Right now - 3 days later, my Star of Siam shows no signs of further rot damage and even has 3 (or more) healthy leaflets starting at the base. But what i don't understand is how the pond stores can have these robust lilies that look great at the shop, but croak in a new home... All conspiracies aside, soil has been nothing but trouble for me. So what did i do differently this time? Well, after reading up here on various posts, more specifically, the "Water Lilies" thread, i found a curious suggestion from a member to use regular clay cat litter for your plants instead of soil. It's pretty ingenious! It stays put when you drop it in the water, it'll be constantly aerated and water will always be able to move through it (since it's more like a tight gravel than a solid soil), and when it comes time to change the soil (if you even need to) you just pick up a new bag of litter and you're done! I bought a large bag of Johnny Cat Original litter from my feed store, 2 bags of Jobes tomato spikes from Lowes, 4 metal drip pans from my local auto place, and a few bags of black Mexican beach pebbles (to weigh down plants). Everything i've planted this time around seems to really enjoy it's new home. It finally feels i found the solution to all my lily woes! And who knew it would be kitty litter? naturelover2007 - The books state zone 9 as the lowest available growing zone, but I'm pretty sure you could easily overwinter it inside - its amazingly hardy and has given us endless green (not exaggerating!) Brenda - thanks for the facts! I always wondered what was with the aerial roots and it makes sense that they're shoots off of the mother plant. But it's fascinating how far those things can travel. I think i found one 6 feet away from the main plant interwoven into the border rocks. Dianne - It's always in those first months that you build a pond. You imagine that the hardest part is digging the hole and building the pond, but it's only half (even less than half) of the battle. It's great to hear that you didn't fill it in though! Do you have any pictures up in the gallery of your pond? I wish you luck with your waterfall addition - should add some beautiful relaxing sounds for your yard! Thanks for taking the time to reply! Thank you all for your kind words - as the pond matures this season (well, what's left of summer), I'll be sure to keep you informed. We just planted a black-stemmed bamboo screen to help enclose the pond in a more natural setting (instead of a pink block wall) - and i think i might experiment with some miniature Juniper plants in the stream beds (i saw someone do it, now i want to!) Thanks again fellow ponders! Mike.

Hi, Gary! Well, first of all, the papyrus is NOT planted in water, but in an elevated flower bed. It was just planted last spring, but literally exploded with growth over the course of the next 8 - 10 months. Now, however, it's gotten quite scraggly, and the new shoots die before ever fully opening. The bottom clump of old and new shoots is HUGE and I realize now that I should probably have thinned it ages ago. Doesn't help me now, though. And you're right, of course...now it is a major, major undertaking. How the heck do I dig it up and separate? Won't that kill it? How deep will the roots have gotten (so, how deep do I have to dig to avoid them?)...and what's the best garden tool to do the job? A shovel? Do I clip all the stalks close to the ground, then haggle with it? I sorely want my beautiful plant from last summer back...not this half-dead, straw-like imitator! And no, I have no clue how to make paper from it, but have played with a trimmed stalk to try and figure it out. Do tell!