Hi Jenny,
I would have the water moving to help with the mosquitos but they do make a mosquito deterant that is plant/animal safe for birdbaths etc., I can't remember the brand. Also, I had mine in full sun and the plants didn't live long but the container I had mine in was pretty shallow. If you don't care if the water is green I don't think you need to treat the water but you may add fertilizer.

Hi Jenny,
It definitely helps to have a little water movement. When I had a whiskey barrel water garden, I just had a small fountain pump, which was plenty for that little container.
Unless its a dwarf/miniature water lily, it will outgrow your container in about a week!
I have a couple 300 gallon stocktank (above ground) watergardens that don't have water movement and they do fine, as long as I have a fair amount of plant material in them.........like a medium-large water lily and a couple marginals.
You can probably leave yours in full sun, since you're in MN.
Don't treat the water, except for using mosquito dunks.
You'll need to fertilize your water lily once a month.
Water gardening is always a learning process. You'll learn alot as you go. Don't be discouraged by your mistakes.
I'm sure you'll want something larger very soon. :)
Have fun!

Thank you, I do have a small pump..or I should say HAD a small pump. It's been years since I used it, and I am not sure where it is at.
I have a large natural pond the size of a football field on one end of my 5 acres. It's nice, but to big to do anything with. I love it though, we usually put ducks and geese on it in the summer, and get a lot of native animal life out there too. I would love to get some waterlilies established out there. Although I think the ducks and geese would eat them. We need the birds to help keep it clean, other wise by mid summer it is full of some type of plant that takes over. We keep saying we would like to get a big fountain for it, but frankly it's not in our budget.

I just want a smaller water feature up by the house to enjoy.

Jenny p

I don't know how you feel about Rubbermaid (or other) stocktanks, but it fits my needs really well. You can get them in 100-1000 gallon sizes. I have 2 300 gallon Rubbermaid stocktanks in the ground. One is a little pond with a small waterfall in which I have 1 lily and some marginals. The other one is the same size and filled with dirt and water, for a lotus bog.

Then I have 2 300 gallon ones above ground. Each of those has a lily and some marginals in them. I'm in zone 5 and have to empty them out and turn them over every winter, or they fill with water and freeze and split.

I know aesthetically they aren't great, but they are wonderful for my needs. They attract frogs, and dragonflies.

I would love to have a big pond like yours, but we always seem to need to spend our money on other things.......like the kids in college, etc. But they can be a real challenge to manage at times.

You could even get several of the smaller containers (like whiskey barrels) and have a couple miniature water lilies or a small lotus and some marginals. Unfortunately, where you're located, you'd have to somehow protect them during the winter. I usually just pull mine up (out of the above-ground tanks) and bury them in the soil next to the house for the winter. They do fine. The one in the ground, I use a deicer on in the winter.

Small features can be alot of fun too!

You Catherine, You are an enabler! These do sound kinda kewl.

I got the whiskey barrel, and the liner. While shopping I saw that they were growing some plants in 2 to 3 inches of water. Things like lobelia, and elephant ears, (can't think of the offical name off-hand) anyway, I have about 6 EE bulbs potted up, that I had kept over the winter. SO I picked up a shallow liner, only about 12" deep, my thinking is to use it in an older Whiskey barrel I have already, put the two next to each other, drill holes up from the bottom of the shallow liner, about 3" up around the sides,(for drainage) then set my EEars pots in it. Maybe some other things too. I have some siberian iris in another garden I could take a chunck of.

The new deeper whisky barrel is gonna have a waterlily....I love them and that's what started this whole thing.

I think I need to read up more on wet gardens, other than the pond, everything here is dry. I have tried growing cardinal flower, near where my sump pump drains, but it dies out on me.

Thanks! Do you have pictures of your set up? I would love to see.
Jenny P

I used a 40 gallon tank from Tractor Supply and it held a water lily and a few marginal plants just fine. Here it is a bit overcrowded before I put the floating planter and plants into the pond. Although I intended to get a small pump for a spitter I never did. Everything, including a couple of small fish lived happily all summer.
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Kewl! My DH is telling me I have to many things going on already. I need to do the one I have and live with it for now. Expanding will have to wait until I have more experience under my belt.......LOL in other words he put the skids on!

Jenny P

I also occasionally use the one Pashta uses for some of my marginals and left-over things after I thin. Its a nice size. Do you have a Tractor Supply store near you? They carry a nice range of Tuff-Stuff containers.

I don't have many pictures of my ponds that aren't totally overgrown with weeds! haha But here's 2 pics I took in early spring last year, before all the growth exploded. In July, you can hardly see the ponds for all the flowers/plants/weeds. Fortunately last year, DH weeded it all for me. (He loves to weed.......can you believe that?)
The first one is of my 300 gallon inground tank on the left (too much algae on the waterfall), and the lotus bog is on the right (not much growth there yet in early spring).

The second pic is of one of my above ground tanks with 2 tropical lilies in it. You can see that the water is fairly clear, even without a pump. I usually add marginals in there to help with the filtering.

I know these tanks are more than you want to do right now, but they're a great way to have a small watergarden without too much effort. (digging the hole is the hardest part for the inground one!). I can't tell you how much pleasure we get out of these!
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There's a bog forum here, but I don't think its real active.
One thing you can do is dig a hole, the size you want and then line it with a thick black plastic. Then fill it back up with the type of soil you want in there. Then keep it wet.
They say you should poke the liner in a few spots, but I never did.
You have to keep maintaining the water in it if it doesn't rain much, but its a way to have a bog. (which is just a real wet area, where marginals can grow.....like cardinal flower, venus flytrap, iris, etc.)