Water Garden: Plants and Vandalism

The next step in the process of creating any water garden is putting in plants. I originally wanted to put Iris, Water Lettuce, and Water Hyacinth in the water garden but had a hard time finding the last two. I already had the Iris, however, so I went ahead and planted them in the garden. I plan on purchasing the other types when I can find a local supplier. They are both floating plants and help oxygenate the water and also act as a natural filter.

I purchased two planting baskets as well as some topsoil and aquarium rocks. It is important to use a good topsoil rather than potting soil. This is because potting soil is too light and will float more easily and make a bigger mess. The aquarium rocks go on top of the dirt and prevent it from going everywhere and clouding up the water. The planting process is pretty simple.

1. Fill the planting baskets partway with soil
2. Put plant in basket
3. Fill with more soil
4. Cover with aquarium rocks

After putting the aquarium rocks over the soil I watered the plants thoroughly to saturate the soil and let the small bits drain out of the bottom to reduce clouding of the water. The only thing left to do after this is to place them in the water garden. I used a few bricks to adjust the height to the appropriate level. I placed these so that they had between 1 1/2" - 2" of water above the tops of the baskets.

Starting to look like a water garden...

Unfortunately some punk decided to be a complete jerk and vandalized the water garden a few days later (along with the outside A/C unit). Below are some pictures of the damage. Fortunately all I had to do was replant the Iris and clean the dirt and rocks out of the water but it was still a pain and very aggravating.