Thanks for the Beckett wweb site - See the islands under the skippy installtion post, a few posts below this one, looks like the best I've seen so far. I've not used this foam, but have used a couple alternatives. This looks to be the simplist one. By layering the foam you will be able to adjust the plant height above the water level which allows you to grow many types of plants, including typical land plants which is great and a money saver as well. Let us know how it works for you.

No problem. I particularly liked that link because you can actually read the instructions to see what is involved. I still have a pretty small pond but I think some floating impatience would add some great color instead of relying entirely on water hyacinths and lettuce. So given variety of things people use, I guess no one really worries about what is fish safe? Everyone seems to have done fine with whatever they have used, from dollar store floral foam to filter material.

I just made a couple of these today! My pond is small (5 x 7) but I made two floaters out of the furnace filter and Great Stuff. And while right now they sort of look like a page from Cakewrecks.com ("Here is what they wanted, and here is what they got"), I am hoping they will fill in. Even now, the fish are enjoying the shade, and I am enjoying the colors! I put impatiens, coleus, and a couple kinds of mint. I made them based on the link here:

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ponds/msg0418181114221.html

Something interesting to read: Here in Estonia we can see big floating islands that are made by the Mother Nature.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lake Porkuni

Thanks, I didn't realize there were natural floating Islands. My pond is also small, so I would need to make small ones, but I like the idea of something like impatiens with a lot of color instead of just the all green hyacinths and water lettuce.

I used the pink insulation foam from the big box stores (on the skippy thread) easy peezy and I did not worry about leaching chemicals since it is just foam not painted or anything. Impatiens are a good idea for color but don't they need full shade? My island is in full sun. I know some full shade plants can take full sun if they stay wet all the time, maybe that is the case with impatiens???

Keep a half of a Job plant spike in the root clump with the impatiens, they may look pitiful in the late afternoon sun(I'm in Atlanta metro), but bounce back in the evening. I've had huge plants in batting, no soil.

Depending on the amount of sun, Hostas, merigold, small satar shped that used for filler/ground cover, and there is a semi tall blue/purple flower that have done well. Some luck with some others.

Land plants are not expensive so experiment and report back, okay?

Hi pcan,
There's a new kind of (patented I'm sure) impatiens that is supposed to tolerate full sun in hot climates. Haven't tried it myself, but you might want to give them a go in your island. Just search for "impatiens for sun".Let us know if you do...

Floating islands? How in the world do you accomplish this?? Our pond is large (only because it is where there are underground springs and was a mucky, boggy area with weeds and mosquitoes) so I could do this. Someone referred to a link but I could not find it. Could someone refer me to a link?! Thank you! So exciting. I guess it wouldn't really matter if you have overhanging trees that provide shade but much of the pond is in full sun much of the day?

This is the one that first inspired me

Here is a link that might be useful: inspirational floating islands

I believe this is the original post with detailed instructions:

Here is a link that might be useful: How to make floating pond islands