you can take the cheap cell pact impatiens,hose off all the dirt and bare root them and stick the root under a wet spot in the water fall.they grow huge about 3 ft. in diameter.i put two on each side of my 7 ft.water fall.they cover the whole water fall in flowers all summer.

Great tip! Thank you! I tend to get some impatiens and plant them around in the shady spots as well as a floating island this summer. I have seen them grow huge in those as well.

We have begonias, wave petunia, impatience, marigold, tuberous
begionias, and geraniums to name a few...
In early spring we start with pansies...

We also have a lot of perennial ground covers, including vinca vine
and English ivy. This provides lots of ground cover so that we can
plant clusters of annuals (in either dark pots or mulch pots) hidden
in the ground covers. We plant tight, leaving no room for weeds.

Cliff and Joann!!!!!!!!! You can't imagine how many times I have watched your You Tube videos trying to identify all of those luscious plants you have! Yes, I am going to have to 'plant tight' as well. The weeds have overtaken down there this winter. Every time I am down there, I am pulling, hoeing and chopping! I don't know if I am brave enough to plant vinca down there as it has almost choked out things in our upper bed but I appreciate your sharing the types of annuals you plant. I hope you will stay tuned for pix of our pond this spring and summer!! Thank you again!

Joraines, There are many other types of ground covers that can
cover your beds. The English ivy is invasive, and does have to be
controlled and cut back to be confined to specific areas, so that it doesn't choke out other plants in the area, howeverq
the vinca vine although invasive as well, shares space well with
other plants.
Some of our annuals are planted in the ground, and some are planted in pots
that are buried in the ground, If you look at the videos or the pic's on our website, all the annuals that you see on the big waterfall for instance
are in pots.
We usually purchase about eight or ten potted annuals in May
and scatter them around, thus we have flowers without having to wait
for them to grow. It fits our instant gratification personality.ðÂÂÂ
For Mother's Day, our kids always get me potted annuals,
so early in the season we're already in full bloom.
The rest of the annuals we buy in flats, and as I said, some are planted
in the ground (particially the flowers on the bed edges) the rest in pots.

We also plant, dusty miller, regular petunias, and miniature dalias.
The key is to first start with filling in with ground covers, and small
rock garden type evergreens. Mix up textures and colors when choosing
the evergreens and ground covers.
joann

If I can find it, I will certainly visit your website! We have some perrenials including daylilies, Shasta daisies, lantana, Mexican petunia among them but as you can tell from the photos, there is a LOT of green so we need color.
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Wow, that pond looks so beautiful. I love all the greenery.
You have a gorgeous place there :)

One you fill in your beds
with more ground cover, you'll be happy not to be weeding
in the hot summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: CJ's Adventures in Ponding

This post was edited by cliff_and_joann on Wed, Feb 13, 13 at 9:08

Thank you! Our's runs parallel to a creek and is both fed by and returns to a creek so is an open, fresh water, spring-fed pond. I found your website through your You Tube videos which I have saved in my favorites. Yes, I am going to surely consider the ground covers to choke out the weeds. We also plan a large vegetable garden this year and are hay farmers who deliver hay to regional horse breeders, trainers and boarders so the less weeding I can do around the pond, the better. Thank you again for sharing the types of annuals you plant. I will be posting pix of our progress this spring and summer. We also have had a wedding here and plan to pursue that more so will be planting with that in mind as well.