The idea for an aquarium garden came from Lucy. Her garden has a structure that looked like a castle, and many bright fish. It really looked like it was under the sea. I think she used hostas and spiky plants. Another of my favs was a totem that featured glass fish underneath an inverted fishbowl.

Shrimp plant, Shell Ginger and 'Minnow' daffodils are some of the plants I use that have 'undersea' names. Ceramic fish mark the spots where 'Gold Standard' hostas grow and I have other fishies that are just for decoration. I filled a toothbrush holder shaped like a snail with potting soil and sprinkled Alyssum seeds in the holes in the top.

Other plants include curcuma, cardamon ginger, chartreuse alternanthera, caladiums and pale yellow daylilies. The background of this bed has blue hydrangeas and ferns. I use gingers rather than hostas because hostas are reluctant to emerge and grow this far south; gingers are out of the ground as soon as it warms a little.

There's an "undersea" garden at Quail Botanical Garden on the West Coast that features lots of succulents that resemble sea creatures.

Nell

Here are a couple of photos of my 'coutrements' for the undersea garden.

I took out the seashells and sand because when it rained, oak leaves fell into the shells and the sand looked dirty.
This was a winter photo.
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This is, I think, 2005. This year there are more ferns, and gingers and caladiums.
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Nell