Planters keep tipping over in pond!

9 years ago

Every year I go through this: first of all, my pond is about 20 inches deep. Okay, I have a very tall plastic planter that I got so that it would sit on the bottom of the pond. I put a bunch of bricks and large rocks in it, and then a papyrus plant and then more rocks. Then we put this incredibly heavy thing in the pond, balancing it under a couple of large rocks that are masking where the liner comes up to ground level.

THEN IT TIPS OVER AND THERE IS POT AND A PLANT AND A BUNCH OF ROCKS AND BRICKS INSIDE THE POND.

Excuse me, I have to try to get all of this out of the pond now without actually going into the pond!

My question; can I put a layer of small rocks like what you use in a aquarium on the bottom of my pond so that I can more easily put these pots upright on the liner? The problem now is that the liner is not FLAT. Because I built the pond STUPIDLY many years ago.

I know gravel is a bad idea and so is soil. So -- that's the question: small rocks??? (by the way I've used the floating bags, the baskets, every thing out there, but I want my plants to sit STABILy on the floor of the pond (my whole pond is about 3 feet across)

thank you sorry for horrible formatting!!!!

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Comments (4)

User
9 years ago
What an interesting puzzle -- there's got to be a solution! Is it the wind knocking your plant over, or do you think it tips just because it's not on a flat level spot and falls even if nothing is pushing against it? How big is your planter -- about 20 inches tall I guess, but is it square, round, are the sides straight up and down or does it taper?

If you're thinking aquarium gravel ... what about corralling the gravel in a container (or mesh bag?) large enough to set your tall plastic container in, instead of letting gravel loose on the whole pond floor. And maybe try pea gravel -- it's larger than aquarium gravel and probably cheaper in the quantity you'd need.

Some sort of tripod that you could set in the water, then set your planter into, could be useful ... I wonder if anyone makes those ... or has other ideas. I'll be watching your thread, because my new pond will be ready for plants in a few days and I'd like some tall ones too :-)
tropicbreezent
9 years ago
I think Papyrus in a pot is a bad idea. It's always going to be top heavy and any wind coming along (strong breeze even) is going to cause havoc. You need a pot about the size of your pond for it to be stable, but then the papyrus will spread out and multiply and you're back with the same unstable situation, but on a bigger scale. And I can't see how pebbles on top of the liner would help. Any movement in the pot sitting on pebbles would soon puncture the liner. If you put soil into the bottom of your pond and planted the Papyrus into that it should work better, that's actually what I do with plants that are taller heavier than Papyrus, but in concrete ponds. Another option, less aesthetically pleasing, would be to put four stakes in around the pond and tie heavy fishing line between them with the papyrus supported in the middle. You wouldn't notice the fishing line all that much but the stakes would be visible.
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PKponder TX Z7B
9 years ago
My papyrus in a pot always flips over in wind. Trying a flatter wide pot this year, we'll see how that works.
buyorsell888
9 years ago
If your pond is three feet across and twenty inches deep, it would be a small matter to dump a couple bags of rinsed pea gravel in the bottom to see if you can get your pots to nestle down into it and stay upright. Try it and see. Pea gravel is cheap at Home Depot.