Pond, Part 2

After letting the kids play in 100 gallons of water for an hour the tank did not settle.  We drained it and did some more scraping and chopping.  I cut out a chunk of Redbud root and some more of the larger root that Ron had chopped out.  I tried seating it several more times (I just tipped the empty tank up on the front of the site, it's not terribly heavy) and think I'm leaving it like it is.  The front and back are an inch higher than the center and sides.  This is a stock tank and meant to withstand horses and cows beating it up and ranchers not bothering to level their sites.  It won't leak.  Something else to consider when filling a storage basin that is at a higher elevation than the water source:  siphoning.  When you shut off the hose, you need to pull it out of the tank or the the water can back into your household plumbing.  I knew about this ahead of time, just warning y'all.

While on the water garden tour last weekend, we talked to several of the members and were offered water hyacinth, water lettuce, a rigid liner and waterfall, baby koi and a lotus for our garden!  These, in addition to the miniature and pygmy waterlilies, and house plants we chose at the plant exchange, confirm the generosity of club members!  I look forward to sharing our bounty in next year's exchange and being on the tour. 

Here is a photo of our patio pond.  The container is a 20 inch resin pot from Kmart that does not come with the hole pre-drilled.  I placed bricks inside to support the waterlily pots and the rain chain is from Target.  The chain looks like copper, but is not, it is painted.  I drilled the holes in the cups out with a 1/4 inch drill bit, the ones it had were impossibly small for it's function.  It replaced the downspout from the deck guttering and is very pleasant in the rain...when we get any.  The idea of the rain chain is Japanese, a Google search will turn up many lovely photos of them in different shapes and lots of information.  I thought they were getting more popular, but did not see any homes on the tour with them installed.  We may very well have seen the only ten without them!