You did a great job posting. Lovely pond. I think maybe the leaves are standing up because they are so lush and there are so many of them. They don't have room to spread out so they are spreading up!
Anne

I've seen the pads standing up in my pond, before I enlarged it. Most of the surface area was covered by pads, and some of them stood up higher than others. I think it's because they're crowded and have no room to lie on the surface of the water.

Nice little pond, btw. The pink lilies are lovely.

The pads are standing up because the waterlily needs to be divided/re-potted.

That is absolutely the case and I agree 100% with buyorsell. It's time to divide and share or sell the extras. I grow and sell waterlilies and this is what happens when they get to crowded. Just break off or cut off the baby plants and repot them If you dont do this soon the plant may start to decline. Try to keep the roots with each plant to minimize shock to the babies. The plants will appreciate being split. Warning they can be extremely heavy and you may want to cut them where they are. Also they are very smelly it,s terrible but it washes off. It may be time to cleanout the pond also. They may be getting overfertilized by the fish waste. All that being said. They are sure blooming great. It seems just when you get them the way you like them its time to split them.

Love your pond. My pond is little, too, and I also have leaves pushing up, though not as many. I want to build a little waterfall like yours, too. Can you tell me how you did it? Where's the pump and the pipe from the pump to the waterfall? Thanks for any suggestions and advice

Dancingcook,

Thanks for the complement!

If you look at the top photo, you will see that tall clump of grass or miscanthus and some white which is the corner of my front porch. The pump is in the bottom of the pond with the tubing feeding up along the liner and behind the flow of water in the water fall. The water flow and black color of the tubing hides the tubing pretty well. The fall is just stacked rock that we found locally. The tubing runs up behind the flow through strategically placed rock in the fall, through the miscanthus to a filter (5 gallon bucket filter) and back through the miscanthus and under the top white rock that has a concave area that hides the tubing. We found the rock like that, so it isn't something we drilled. I cut the grass back every fall to about a foot tall and pull my pump and filter,and put everything back in in the spring before the grass gets to growing good. The grass hides the tubing well, and the filter is on the back side of the porch where it is pretty much hidden from view by the grass and other plants but still accessible for me to clean every week or two. I do have a lag time in the spring where you can see all the tubing and such ( I refer to the pond as the "bride of frankenstien" then!), until the grass gets going good and the plants in the pond grow in, but until I can get the cash to build exactly what I want, it will do.

Carla

Thanks for the info, Carla. I've been messing around with a similar idea, but so far it doesn't look as good as yours. I'm inspired to continue trying out ideas. Watching the birds bathing on the ledge, I decided to try using an old bird bath. It looks ok, but needs something like your top white rock to hide the pipes. One day when I'm satisfied, I'll post a photo, but that may only be next spring! Thanks for the inspiration.

There are some waterlilies that just aren't meant for small spaces, and even if you repot/thin it, chances are they will over-fill your pond again. Ask me how I know. :)

I think I probably know how you know, Catherinet! As far as these, I re-potted them last spring, meaning spring of 2010. I used the plain clay kitty litter and fertilized with some kinda organic stick that I found at the local feed store. (Not much in the way of pond stores near me and I'm not into paying a ton for shipping!) Anyway, I used jobe's tomato spikes this year and as you can tell, they have gone gangbusters on foliage, but I can't say they have done as well with the blooms. I have a total of 4 plants in the pond ( I know that's too many, but it's hard to say no to a freebie!) and two of them have not even bloomed. The other two manage maybe 1 or two blooms a week, alternating between plants...this week its the yellow...probably a white next week, with the yellow doing the best. One week I had five blooms, two white and three yellow. I didn't know if the erect leaves were to do with the fertilizer, the temperatures (hot for WV this year), the depth the pots sit at, or overcrowding. General conclusion is the need of division. I've been so busy painting porches and doing other things that I haven't gotten to that yet. The work never ends!

Carla