Depending on what part of BC you're in (it's a BIG place!) you could grow the same stuff I'm growing here in WA state. I've been pulling stuff up from natural ponds and streams where legal. I've got a lot of native wetland stuff that way. Yellow monkey flower, creeping veronica I pulled out of a lawn actually but it's a wetland plant, coltsfoot, piggyback plant, water parsley. Duckweed from a friend's pond, necessary to cover water surface to reduce algae. And the goldfish will eat it. I've also got Japanese iris, they're perfectly hardy here in USDA zone 7/8. And some native sedges etc I don't know the names of, and a small hardy water lily from the nursery. Just ask at the nursery what they've got that's hardy. goldfish will eat pretty much anything and they need a lot of space as they're very dirty fish. A 50 gallon tank shouldn't have more than a couple or three goldfish for optimal health of plants and fish. They'll keep the mosquitoes down, but they'll also eat any frog eggs or damselflies or water beetles. I keep the fish out of the pond and use floating Bt tabs for the mosquitoes. In the winter, even our mild winters, my 25 gallon tub will freeze over but never so far solid. I cut the plants back after frost and sink them to the bottom of the tub for the winter so they'll be protected from the cold by the water. That just means that I take any supports out from under the pots so they're all sitting on the bottom. Then when it warms up in spring I pull them out and put the bricks and stones back under them. So long as the water doesn't freeze solid the goldfish will be fine but don't feed them in cold weather. They need to go into like suspended animation over the winter and feeding them will make them sick.

They are very early this year....found their little exoskeletons on the foliage this weekend. And the stickelbacks have hatched already too. Quite amazed by the different sizes of tadpoles. Some are quite large and look like they are not far off legs, and others are very small indeed. I don't know if they vary in size due to the genetics of particular frogs, availablity of food, or whether I am seeing toad and/or newt 'poles' which hatch later than frogs.

A couple of years ago I had odd damselflies that flitted about a bit like a helicopter. I can remember that they were quite a dull colour. They didn't hang around for long, so I guess my pond wasn't the right kind of territory they needed. I've just looked Demoiselles up in a brill book I bought with Christmas money, called 'Complete British Insects' by Michael Chinery (published by Collins.) It's £16.99 but for insect nuts like me, it's worth every penny and they are proper photographs. I didn't know there were two types of Demoiselle, the 'Banded' and the 'Beautiful.' Chip, it seems that you might well have the banded ones because they breed in slow moving, usually muddy streams. The males are mettalic green or blue and the females green with greenish-yellow wings. I think my visitors were probably female beautiful demoiselles which have brownish wings. I hope we get a load of sun this summer because I think dragonflies/damselflies need the sun before they fly. It certainly seems that the wet weather keeps them well away. Big Kid

Hello! I moved into a new home in late winter/early spring and gained, what I thought to be, an 'empty' pond with a small amount of plants. I duly fixed the fountain, cleaned the filter and was amazed when the pond suddenly came to life. I now have frogs, toads, hundreds of tadpoles, newts, baby newts (newtlets? newtpoles?), damselflies (plus nymphs), lots of snails and other small watery bugs (not sure what they all are as this is my first experience of ponds.) My question is...the plants in the pond (lilies and irises) are beginning to take over and I would like to thin them out a bit. However, I am worried about disturbing any eggs or newly hatched creatures on the plants as I have observed the damselflies mating and laying eggs all over the leaves at water level and there are clumps of snail eggs around the pond too. Does anyone have any tips about how to deal with this and also the best way to thin the plants? Sorry for the long question but I am new to 'pond-ownership' and I'm enjoying it so much that I'm keen to get it right. Thanks :)