We are a bit overwhelmed with the water iris as it appears to be about 12 or more inches deep in root bound thickness. We were going to chop some off but that didn't work out very well. It is really really root bound. Do you just have to pull it apart like house plants??

we will get some more field stone. There were some hanging, creeping plants in between the rocks but since it was so overgrown, I think we removed some beneficial (stabilizing) plants.

I remove them from the water, which may take two people if all stuck together, then pull them apart, using pruning shears or kitchen scissors to cut through the tangled roots. Initially I had them planted in just the water with large stones packed around them on the bottom to hold in place, but now I use 2 pond baskets with crushed lava as "soil" to hold them down. That makes it easier to remove for thinning because the roots are contained unless you wait too long and they break through..

I have plenty of EDPM liner that is stone covered, but I also have places where the liner has remained exposed for probably eight years. I have not seen any damage from that exposure. I believe the coverage is only for appearance. You will find that your plants will create some of that coverage anyway. All stone can look artificial, but with intermixed plants and logs it will appear natural.

Thanks for the log idea! That would be nice. There was a little bridge but the previous owner took it will her because her son made it for her (completely understandable).

all info welcome! Thanks!

So we need to figure out what to do with the pond for the winter. Temps are low 40s at night, we are pulling filters so they won't freeze but does anything else need to be done? Any Websites recommended for pond care??

I am in zone 7 so I hope that we hear from some zone 5 type folks. However, even in zone 7b we get plenty of freezing and we have had a couple years get down to 5° F. I have been able to walk on my pond and I believe that it was frozen solid for a week. There have been other years where the freezing has appeared solid at much 'warmer' temperature but I suspect that there was some air exchange along the edges. In any case, as long as your pond is more than two feet deep, your fish will probably be OK.

We have been down to 10F with 3-4" of ice on top. When making our pond I made sure to have it 24" deep at one end, so the fish could survive a hard freeze. Low 40s isn't that cold, in fact we were at 36 this morning. I won't disconnect the pump until we get to freezing for more than a few days, it really won't ice over until several days in the 20s day and night. My goldfish (6-8") were still eating when I fed them yesterday, when it gets really cold they stop and go into winter dormancy mode.

Okay so I will run that pump for a while longer (we are going to winterize our camper so I am in the winterize mindset).

We just purchased the home at the end of August and I know one end of the pond is 2 ft deep but the other end is only 1 foot. With the pump running there is constantly circulating water. We do not have purposely placed fish in it just frogs and a few minnow type fish (not exactly sure what they are).

We will look at making it a bit deeper in the spring when we redo some of the landscaping. Thanks!