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| I hosted my daughter's baby shower yesterday and my pond was the main attraction. The "belle of the ball", however, were my floating planter islands. Here are some pics.
Thanks, Lisa (Goodkarma) for sharing this wonderful idea. The islands I planted are all impatiens. Do you see the one you made me? In the top pic it's the one in the middle to the left of the pic. My fish push them all around the pond but can't hurt them. You are a genius. Jenny
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| Those are terrific! Are you actually growing impatiens in full sun??? I would LOVE to be able to do that! |
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| Yes they are in full sun and flourishing. Jenny |
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- Posted by goodkarma_ 5b (My Page) on Sun, Jul 26, 09 at 23:30
| Hi Jenny, Your planters are gorgeous!!!!!!! Thanks for the warm compliment, I truly appreciate it. Congrats on the new baby in the family too. My impatients in the planters are doing so well in full sun. I love that they are thriving and sucking up nitrates in the pond. Since I followed your leader in adding lots of plants in the settling pond and big filter the water is crystal clear. Thanks for the inspiration. Please post more pics. Your pond is amazing and I just love to see as many pics as you can post. Also I love the reflection of your bridge in the water. Warm Regards, |
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| To describe in a single word? Gorgeous! |
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| Maybe a stupid question but could you share with me the makeup of your floating island planters? |
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| Thanks all for your compliments. dbuys here is the link Lisa (Goodkarma)posted to help you make one, two or more. Jenny |
Here is a link that might be useful: floating island planter directions
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| Hi, I love the idea and final look of this project. However I was wondering how you attached your "noodles" to the outside edge of your planter. Lisa does not have that addition in her directions, she just mentions adding extra window foam around the edge. Thank you both for the great Idea! |
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| Hi nadrae: The other planters are made from wire planter baskets. The foam noodles are attached with cable ties. These were created by another forum member with the user name of nosambos. I don't think the directions are still on the forum. But they are easy to make too. I lined mine with cocoa fiber. The only problem I had is my koi ate right through the cocoa fiber and got the roots of my plants. Jenny |
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| Hi A method I've used is ,expanding foam. "Great stuff" Just arrange some plastic pots in a geometric shape and spray the foam around them. The foam acts as an adhesive as well as a flotation. You can paint it with acrylic latex . I use either aquarium gravel or oil dri as a media. since they are constantly wet. Koi will still bump them around but can't get through the plastic. Besides impatients you can use almost any type of moisture loving plant. gary |
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- Posted by brownthumbia 5aIA (My Page) on Sat, Apr 3, 10 at 9:44
| What fantastic flowers you have!!! and now it is time to think about doing something with my pond. I am going to try the furnace filters but can you tell me what size you used and are there different sizes? They really look huge in the pics. How did you keep the roots anchored in the holes or are they smaller than they appear in the photos? Sorry for all the questions but I really want this to work. How proud I would be if they looked just half as good as yours. thanks in advance. BT |
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| Hi BT: I am attaching the link again fyi. If you look at Lisa's pics I believe the size is on the wrapper. If I am not mistaken they are 20 X 25 X 1. You will notice in the pics you don't cut the bottom filter at all. You cut holes in the top filter according to the size plants you want to put in them (I cut 12 holes in each of my impatiens islands. 2 islands accommodated 1 flat of flowers). Then you sandwich the 2 furnace filters together using Great Stuff. Just be careful not to use too much Great Stuff or you will fill up the holes you cut. The Great Stuff also works as a float to keep the furnace filters from sinking. You need to use enough for bouyancy, but not too much that you fill up your holes. I rinsed the dirt off of the impatiens roots and placed them bare root in the holes. Once the roots took hold nothing could knock them out. The koi would flip the entire island over. When I flipped it back everything was intact but I had impatiens petals all over the pond. They won't eat the petals. They just like to flip the islands. Maybe they were trying to get to the tadpoles that were living on the islands when I broke the pond down for the winter. Hope this helps. Good luck with you pond. Jenny |
Here is a link that might be useful: Goodkarma's floating plant islands
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| I have a small pond... I think I'm going to try this with those green scrubby's for dishes and make them much smaller. Will the roots eventually grow through the bottom? |
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- Posted by riverspots 7 MD (My Page) on Fri, Apr 9, 10 at 14:32
| I've just made a couple small floaters by making a ring of foam pipe insulation (one end inserted in the other and bound with cable tie) and sticking a shallow plastic pot (the type that annuals or mums might come in.) I put the washed 6-pack container inside the pot to help the dirt-free impatiens stand up. Right now the top of the pot is visible but won't be when the impatiens grow. |
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- Posted by goodkarma_ 5b (My Page) on Fri, Apr 9, 10 at 17:27
| Posted by beck_wi z5 WI (My Page) on Wed, Apr 7, 10 at 0:01 "I have a small pond... I think I'm going to try this with those green scrubby's for dishes and make them much smaller. Yes they will. Post pics later in the season- sounds like a fun idea. Lisa |
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| I took agreen furnace filter, cut it to the shape I wanted, cut holes for the pots, and sprayed the edges, top and bottom with the foam(didn't ahve the door and window version), put pea gravel into the foam, a couple of wire ties into the end that I anchored the island into the corner of my smaller pond - looks a bit bright with the light cream colored foam. I may paint it, but when the marigolds, the coleuos and impateins grow it will be covered. |
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