They pots with all the hoels would not be a very good idea if you want to plant in soil. You need a holeless pot for that.

some of the plants you listed grow large. The easiest solution to keep them stable is bigger pots. Maybe a bog oil drain pan. Swallow and big.

If you want to raise them up get some milk crates. Turn them upside down in the pond. That will give you a nice stable base to sit your plants on. Depending ont he size of your pond you could put several milk crates and add a bog flagstone as sort of a table top. It will give the fish a place to play and hide also.

I use plastic oil drain pans for many of my plants. They are wide and flat and won't tip over.

{{gwi:191696}}

thank you both for your replies.the oil drain pans sound like a good idea. also,billinpa,you mentioned if i use soil...what else is there to use?

I have those same questions. When you plant in an oil pan, what medium do you use to keep it from clouding the water, and hopefully not making it too heavy.

Many plants can live bare root in gravel. Some people use kitty litter too. The plain kind not the clumping stuff.

Some of my plants are in garden soil covered in gravel and some are just in plain pea gravel no soil. Im actually experimenting with some plants planting the same type plant in both to see which likes what better. Nexy year will be a bigger experiment when I can divide a lot of my plants and play around some more.

Oil dry (bought at auto supply store for about $5 for a 50lb bag, made to absorb spilled oil) can be used instead of kitty liter. I have read the oil dry is more pure clay then the kitty liter. ????? Just what I read. I dont know if it true or not. I dont use it.

The plants on shelves were the fish cant really get a good angle on the top to root around get soil for sure in a holeless pot. My lilies are what I am expirimenting with some are planted in soil covered with gravel and some are planted in just gravel. The koi dig aorund in them quite a bit.

So far the lily in the soil has more pads up then the gravel alone. But it was also a little bigger of a plant to start with. Ill have to keep an eye on it through out the whole year.

hi again,the info on pots and different planting mediums is very helpful and informative.thank you all for your help.

Love the oil pans for potting: I drillholes and wrap and secue hot water pipe foam insulaton tubes arond the cirfumference of the pan via wire ties and make them as floattng planters filled with batting and some pea gravel for planting - I also leave abotu a 6-8" center section of the botton with No holes so if the planter gets abit heavy I can hot glue a plstic left-over food continer to the bottom to increse the bouancy.

Impatines grow really well, some other land annuals will also - the Marigolds were fine until the Koi pulled them out of the pans.

Secet - keep the crowns of the annual above the water line
and many wil do fine - I think one problem is that in too much sun these pans may get too hot for the plants for the plants.

In Atlanta, GA area I've found my impatiens go absolutely wild afer the hot summ heat breaks around Septembr until the cold weather sets in.

Island plant stand - Ihave taken black plastic pipe, ABS, typically usd in pluming drains(got mine at Lowes), make a table base, filled the legs with sand to hepl reduce the bouancy and used a large flat rock on top - then you can have it so you can plant water pants and also land plants in pots as well.

Note - I glue the pipe and fittings, let the glue dry thoroughly - leave overnight and you'll be fine.

I am sporadic about visintg this forum, so I may not see any responses in a timely

FORGOT - I normally use the 1" pipe insulators and you can use 1-3 rows under each other - just be sure not to hav the ends of the tube meet at the same place on the pan or you can get a lisp in that portion of the pan. even with a single insulator, unless the ends are sealed from water you may get a slight lisp - may be albe to counteract with some pea gravel at the opposite point from the lisp.

I hve a duck weed now about 16-18" tall and it has almost completely fill the oil pan- i give it a few jabcob plsnt spikes and its been a happy camper - what is nice is that impatiens can be planted around the edges - this year I'm trying 4 dragon tails in the centr of pan and will have impatiens, some other plants around the edges

Enough typing on a laptop - Shalom

huh, I put my 2 potted plants, both filled with soil, into plastic cartons - not upside down. I put rocks all around the pots so they wedge the pots into the milk carton. And the pots are below water. The soil stayed in the pots. Just a bit floated out, but not much at all. Last year I didn't do it this way and my pots kept falling over too. Very annoying. I hope this will solve that problem.

BTW, the people at the water garden store said to put the pots under the water with the soil slowly and it would be fine. I also put creeping jenny into the soil around the plant so I know as that fills out around the plant it will cover the soil. I guess I'll know soon enough when the weather really warms up if this works.

I like the fabric planters best for planting lilies and plants in my pond. The are guaranteed to never tip over. The water with the nutrients from the pond can flow through to the roots of the plants, but the plant roots won't grow through the planters.