Floating Plants for Your Backyard Pond

Where Can I Buy Floating Plants? 

Where Can I Buy Floating Plants

Keep at least half of your pond in the shade providing protection for your fish and submerged vegetation with dramatic floating plants.

What is an Oxygenating Plant? 

Why Do I Need Underwater Plants?

Ponds and water gardens need submerged vegetation to be ecologically balanced. If you have a pond and do not have koi, you can make your pond nearly maintenance free with the proper amount of underwater plants and floating plants.

Where Can I Buy Underwater Plants?

Find what underwater or oxygenating plant is best for your pond. Remember to check with your local extension service to learn what is legal in your state. Many of the underwater plants are invasive and might escape into local waterways.

Choosing the Right Water Lily? 

Choosing a Water Lily

Choosing the Right Water Lily

If you have a pond, you want a water lily. Learn what kinds grow best where you live. What kinds work well in a smaller pond? What grows in colder climates? What if I have a small pond?

Where Can I Buy a Water Lily?

Whether you want a hardy water lily or a tropical, night bloomer or a day bloomer or a lotus, you can find one here. Sold only from March to October.
Shipped 2 day express to ensure freshness.

Building a Backyard Pond 

How to Build a Backyard Pond

How to build a backyard pond. Materials you need. Digging the hole. How to measure a liner. Installing pond rocks and more.

Where Can I Buy Pond Supplies?

From liners to pump, from filters to skimmers to lighting, water quality products, fish care products, solar powered products, find it here.

Choosing bog plants 

Find just the right plant to add interest to your pond

Why do I need bog plants

Find out what bog plants are best for you pond. Which ones are hardy? Which ones are tropical and won't survive your winters? Which ones flower and what color?

Where can I buy bog plants?

Find the bog plants you want for your pond. All plants are shipped between May and October.

Do it yourself articles 

How to Build a Waterfall

To build a waterfall, read a few of my tips and tricks. You can build a professional looking waterfall in just a couple of hours.

How to Build a Koi Pond

Building a koi pond is different than building a goldfish pond or water garden. Let's talk about how to build a koi pond.

How to build a Pondless Waterfall

Pondless waterfalls are another wonderful way to have a water feature in your yard or garden. You can have a waterfall with no pond, no fish, no green water to worry about. A pondless waterfall is also great for a small space.

How to Build a Natural Swimming Pond

Natural swimming ponds are all the rage. Many people in Europe already do have natural swimming ponds and they are catching on quickly in America.

Build an Inexpensive Pond

You can build an inexpensive pond easily and in a weekend. It can look as beautiful as any that a professional has done and you will not have spent a fortune.

Self Contained Small Ponds

Small ponds in limited spaces are very difficult to design and install. When confronted with building a small pond, we pond builders tend to call it a design challenge. See some of the ways to overcome the small pond challenge

The Shade Pond

Ponds under trees can offer planting opportunities for us that ponds in the sun cannot. Ponds under trees can demand a bit more maintenance but not enough to stop us from building our ponds under trees.

How to Build a Bog Garden (Rain Garden)

Building a bog garden, one of many forms of rain gardens is a great way to conserve water and add another element to your garden.

How to Build a Natural Swimming Pond - English Style

How to build a swimming pond that uses no chlorine, no chemicals and looks like a natural pond in your landscape.

How to Build an Indoor Pond

You want to build an indoor pond, because you have no place to put it outside or just love the soothing sound of water bubbling in the house. You can have an indoor pond cheaply and easily.

Epoxy Pond Liners

Epoxy pond liners are coming into their own. Now we have another choice when it comes to materials to line our ponds

Pond Filtration

Figuring out pond filtration can be a chore. I have tried to explain what pond filtration means and some different ways to do it. And choices if you choose not to use pond filtration.

Faux Rocks - the real deal

Faux rocks are a great substitute for expensive, heavy and unwieldy rocks for pond and waterfall building

Build a Rain Garden

Build a rain garden and conserve water at the same time. Learn a few simple ways to make a rain garden.

Backyard Pond Pumps

Many backyard pond pumps to choose from: Which one is best for me?

Choosing a Backyard Pond Pump

From initial cost to running cost, what pump is best for your pond? There are hundreds of pond pumps to choose from: Be sure you pick what is right for you.

Pond Filters and Skimmers, Do I Need Them?

Pond filters and skimmers have been sold to the public as necessary equipment for your pond, but are they always?

How to Build an Above Ground Pond

Occasionally ponds must be built above ground. Either the location is under trees and digging would injure the tree, the pond is to be on concrete, so digging is impossible or the pond builder is a tenant and wants to take the pond along when moving.

Pond maintenance and troubleshooting 

Routine Pond Maintenance

Now that I have a backyard pond, what routine pond maintenance is needed? I have heard they are practically maintenance free. Find out how maintenance free a pond can be.

Pond Cleaning-Step by Steps Instructions for Cleaning the Garden Pond

Pond cleaning is not for the faint of heart! Step by step instructions for cleaning your garden pond.

Pond Disasters

Pond disasters can happen to any pond or water garden. They are usually simple to find and easy to repair. Often a pond problem develops quickly when the ecosystem gets out of balance. How you can find your pond problems and solve them yourself with quick and easy solutions.

Spring Pond Care

Spring pond care is essential and easy. Follow the the tips below to give your plants and fish an easy transition from winter torpor to spring awakening, so your pond, fish and plants can give you pleasure all summer long.

Summertime Pond Care

Summertime pond care is only a bit different than spring pond care. When summertime weather hits, we must take a few precautions to ensure fish health.

Fall Pond Care

Fall pond care involves a few different approaches to pond care.

Wintertime pond care, equipment

Winter pond care means special care for pumps, filters, hoses and supplies as well as pond dwellers.

Winter Pond - fish and plants

Winter pond care requires some special care, not much, but just a few things to watch. If you have not done all the nasty fall care, you must do it now. Trying to remove debris through the ice is impossible.

Pond Troubleshooting - a Case Study

Pond troubleshooting is much like any other troubleshooting. Eliminate the easy problems first and then start hunting.

My Pond is Leaking

Learning how to repair your pond liner is the most difficult problem to solve in pond keeping. You must find holes and patch them and very often that is not an easy task.

Pond Algae: Green Pond Blues

You don%uFFFDt have to suffer the pond algae and green pond blues. A green pond is normal and happens easily. Your pond has turned to pea soup overnight. What can you do now? Here are several ways to keep your pond clean and clear.

Aquatic plants 

Oxygenating Plants

You need oxygenating plants to have a healthy pond

Umbrella and Pitcher

Pond plant choices are many and varied. We want early bloomers, late bloomers, hardy or tropical. For every pond and bog there are plants that will thrive. Two are spotlighted here.

Floating Pond Plants

Floating pond plants are a necessity for the ecologically balanced pond. Like submerged vegetation, they are workhorses in your pond.

Pond Plants

Pond plants can be submerged, floating or emergent. The submerged plant, usually anacharis is the key to balancing the pond ecosystem. With enough, your pond will stay crystal clear.

Water Lilies

Water lilies are often the reason we have ponds. Water lilies lend an exotic look to the pond that we treasure, taking little care and offering much enjoyment.

Pond Plants: Arrow Arum

Arrow arum is one of the dozens of marginal or bog plants that do well in the ornamental backyard pond.

Pond and garden creatures 

Attracting Winter Wildlife to Your Backyard Pond

In the winter our ponds lie dormant, or do they? We can keep a water supply open and give our winter garden creatures a drink and something to eat.

Toads and Frogs in your Backyard Pond

Frogs, toads and backyard ponds go together. We build wildlife resorts in our back yard complete with room service, 400 count sheets and chocolates on the pillows and wonder why we get nightly applause from our invited amphibious residents.

Choosing Goldfish for Your Pond

Choosing goldfish for your pond can be simple if you follow a few tips. When you are choosing goldfish, shop at a pet or fish store, limit your choices, don't buy too many and don't spend much money.

Pondlady's Picks 

The Complete Book of The Water Garden

The Complete Book of the Water Garden, by Philip Swindells and David Mason is arguably the finest, most comprehensive water gardening book ever written.

Miracle-Gro Water Gardens, a Review

MIracle-Gro has produced one fine pond help book. The very best part of it is that it is spiral bound, so it will lie flat, and waterproof so you can take it outside with you, put it on the ground for reference and clean it up later.

All about the Pond, Book Review-Evan-Moor publishers.

A great book for teachers of small children with many resources in one great book.

The Pond Owner's Problem Solver, a Review

The Pond Problem Solver by John Dawes, Book review, how to build a pond, where to put a pond, fish, fish diseases, pond maintenance, pond plants

The Curious Gardener's Almanac, a Review

The Curious Gardener's Almanac, centuries of practical garden wisdom, by Niall Edworthy, published by The Penguin Group in New York is not a book about ponds. In fact, it is not a book about gardens either. This book has no pigeon hole in which to be pushed.

The Creative Herbal Home

The Creative Herbal Home is certainly not a book you would expect to see at pondlady.com. So why is it here?

Miscellaneous pond information 

Pond Gadgets

As we begin our pond keeping hobby, we find that we need certain pond gadgets. Pond gadgets are things we don't use often, but when we need them, we need them now, not tomorrow or on Monday.

The Pondkeepers' Glossary

Pondkeepers use words that most do it yourself pond builders have never heard before. What are pond builders talking about when they say GPH or dechlor? What is a spitter? What is a UV light and do I need one?

Water Conservation and Your Backyard Pond

Our water crisis is worsening, but ponds can be a way of water conservation, not waste. Find ways to conserve water by using efficient pumps, statuary and solar power.

Starting a Pond and Water Garden Society?

Pond and water garden societies can be a great educational tool for pond keepers. If you don't have one near you, here's how to start a pond and water garden society.

Ponds, schools, and kids

Ponds and kids go together. Schools and ponds go together. Use a pond across the entire curriculum to teach kids.

Decorate Your Pond for the Holidays

Decorate your pond when you decorate your house for the holidays

The Pondlady's Links 

From the Pondlady's Pad

Time to time musings about backyard garden pond building, keeping, troubleshooting. Tips on the latest pond supplies and equipment.

The Pondlady's Water Gardens

Enjoy the serenity of rushing water in your backyard with a garden pond. Watch your fish playing in your waterfall. Get complete instructions with photos free. All materials available.

The Pondlady''s shop

We carry the products you need to create you own water garden or to enhance your existing pond environment. From statuary to adorn your water garden to the hardware you need to keep that fountain running year after year, we carry it all!