No Room For A Garden Pond?
How About A Container Water Garden?

Thinking about adding a water feature to your garden? One great idea is to add a container water garden – it’s the easiest way to bring the beauty of water and plants into your outdoor environment without having to dig a hole and go through all that is involved with a large scale pond project.

The Addition of a Container Water Garden is Really
Quite Simple and Well Worth Giving a Try

Almost any type of container that will hold water can be utilized: plastic containers are usually the easiest to transform into a water garden feature; many people use the half barrels that can be found at garden supply stores.

Terra cotta pots are great but you’ll need to paint the pot’s interior with a waterproofing sealant (two coats is a good idea). Resin or foam pots are great, too. For containers that aren’t naturally water tight, flexible PVC liner is another simple "water-proofing" solution.

Whether the container is basin shaped, which allows you more water surface area, or a tall, large urn that you intend to showcase more for it’s shape than for the plants you’ll have in it, there really is no right or wrong.

It’s all dependent upon what you can afford and what container is appropriate for your garden’s theme. Or if you’re like me, maybe it’s a container that you’ve just “gotta have”!

Aquatic Plants Are Quite Low Maintenance

What makes a container water garden such a pleasant part of your over-all garden theme is that you are able to enjoy water plants. There are floating and submerged types that do not have to have a potting medium around their roots and then there are those plants which must be potted.

Click here to learn about and see photos of water garden plants that are very low maintenance: Water Garden Plants List for Beautiful Container Displays

Only the size of your container (and common sense) will dictate what type plants you ultimately should choose. Strict rules don’t apply here. I’d say if your water plants and container choice pleases you – then you’ve got it!

The great thing about container water gardening is that you can always change it or rearrange it easily. There is no digging in the dirt required :-)

I’ve talked on other pages about the container-ized garden approach of having a grouping of planted containers which brings a significant design focal point to your garden and with this in mind, there is no reason you shouldn’t think about grouping a number of container water gardens.

Depending on your container’s size and over-all shape, think about adding water plants for height, medium-to-low spreading plants to add fullness and a cascading plant to help fill in the lower element of your planting composition. Shoot for a visually well balanced look.

Whether you only have room for a water plant or two, or room for many, keep in mind that when all is finished, everything should look well-balanced to the eye. Remember — aquatic plants will grow and can overtake their space, just like flowering plants do.

Locate your container water garden where it will receive at least 6 hours of direct sun light each day. Probably the biggest problem with aquatic plants looking sickly is not enough light. If this happens, well, time to find a sunnier spot!

Be very aware of evaporation and add water as needed to keep your water garden topped off. Don’t stress out your beautiful new water plants because your container became bone dry!

If your winter temperatures drop down below freezing, you’ll not want to think twice about bringing your pot and plants indoors. Most aquatic plants can be over-wintered as houseplants, kept in an aquarium with proper lighting, or even kept alive in a tub of water in your basement.

Add a Garden Spitter to your container water garden or pond. Learn about the basic installation guidelines and how to calculate the amount of water in your container or pond so you'll buy the right size pump. Click here: Garden Spitters Installation

To easily view ALL the projects and how-tos I've got to share with you, please go to my Site Map and take a look. You might just find a few things that catch your eye. Your garden will thank you! Site Map

Please keep coming back — I'm adding more projects
all the time :-)